Liability
by RacheKnowsNoEnd
Summary: Sometimes I wonder if all of the pain was worth the brief moments of happiness; was the life I had chosen, a life that would make me strong so I could protect what was precious to me, truly worth all of the grief? I know if I had not chosen this life, I would never have met him - and he would always be worth it. Ren is on Team Eleven and this is his story (Yaoi, Slash, OMC)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is the first chapter. I've had the idea spinning around in my head for awhile now, and I know this is short so far, but I've already written the second chapter. I just thought the characters needed a chapter to be introduced and so you could get to know them without a lot of the story in the way, so this is just introducing you to my four OC shinobi. Our main character is Ren! Let me know how you enjoy it, the more reviews or feedback I get in general, the faster the updates :)**

Chapter One

"Again!"

I did my hands seals and felt the chakra sing through my veins as I released it. The ground reverberated as my hands hit, causing a shockwave to ripple the earth. Akari jumped, doing a flip in mid-air, throwing out her senbon with deadly accuracy towards me. I dodged to the right, pushing chakra to my feet to increase my speed, and did a sweeping kick as she landed on the ground to knock her off balance. Akari jumped back to create distance between us and did handsigns of her own, a small ball of fire exploding out of her mouth towards me. I flipped back to avoid it, barely singing my clothes, and was just about to throw a shuriken at her.

"Stop." Our sensei, Takeshi Amono, said

Akari and I froze, ending our sparring session and turning to our sensei after forming the seal of reconciliation, confused expressions on our face as to why he had ended the match prematurely. I saw Rafu, the third member of our Genin team, standing beside Takeshi-sensei on the other side of the training grounds. Rafu was tall with short, spiky red hair that reminded me of leaves in the autumn. He had an easy smile and always wore a black shirt with the same emblem on our hitai-ite on the front of it except it was rust colored, he also wore a pair of dark shorts to go along with it.

Akari was about as tall as I was, short for a boy yet tall for a girl, and had dark hair hanging down to her shoulder blades that was as wild and curly as her personality, which was usually tied back into a low ponytail to keep it out of her face. She wore a shirt with half-sleeves and dark pants; Rafu and I enjoyed teasing her that someone had messed up because she was supposed to be a boy - this was because of her immense dislike of anything overtly girlish.

I had dark, black hair pulled into a top knot that had a braided piece of hair hanging down with a feather interwoven into the braid. I wore a dark green, sleeveless shirt that hung down towards my knees with two slits on the side to allow free movement of my dark, pant clad legs. I had two lines of dark green war painted on my light skinned face to remind me of my nindo.

Takeshi-sensei was an odd man; He could go from being a jovial, high-spirited kind of person to a serious, almost brooding, shinobi in an instant. He was very tall, had brown, spiky hair, and always wore a flak jacket and standard issue konoha clothes. He was our Jonin team leader, a great mentor to all three of us, and had been heading our team for a year and a half now.

"Come here Ren. You as well, Akari. I want to talk with you all about something." Takeshi-sensei said, his deep timbre cutting across the training ground clearly. Akari and I glanced at eachother before sprinting over to where he was, Akari beating me by a fraction of a second; we were highly competitive with one another, the smirk around her cupid shaped lips attesting to the fact that she had noticed she won as well. Scowling playfully, I focused on what Takeshi-sensei wanted to tell us; personally, I hoped for another mission. It had been awhile since we had gotten one and I have been extremely bored. Akari nudged Rafu as the two of us came to stand by him, sending him a playful look.

"If we have laps because you were late, I'm dying your clothes pink." Akari teased

"You wouldn't!" Rafu exclaimed, eyes widening "I couldn't help it!"

"That's what you always say." I complained, my face showing none of the amusement shining through my dark and cloudy grey eyes, forgetting Takeshi-sensei for the moment when I heard the familiar excuse.

"This time it was old Kuigochi! She stopped and asked.." We would not ever find out what Kuigochi-san had asked him to do, because at that moment Takeshi-sensei interrupted.

"Enough." Takeshi-sensei said, exasperation clear in his voice "You need to make it to training on time, not fall prey to old women who know you have a bleeding heart."

I snorted in amusement, earning a glare from Rafu. It was true though, Rafu was the kind of person who would help someone carry groceries into their home and after a half hour, would be reorganizing their furniture and be adopted into their family. Not for the first time I briefly wondered how such a gentle-hearted person could be a shinobi, but I did not doubt his skills at all; he had plans to become a medic-nin when he could, a job he would excel at.

"Now, the Chunin exams are coming up." Takeshi-sensei said, looking at the three of us seriously before producing three slips of paper from a pouch on his belt. "These are the sign up forms. I've recommended all three of you to take the exam this time around and I'm confident you'll do well. I held back the last two times not because I didn't think you could hack it but because I wanted you to have time to hone your skills and enjoy being genin - a privilege afforded to us by the times of peace. A privilege I and many others never got."

Takeshi-sensei paused, looking each of us in the eye to reassure himself we were paying attention and taking what he was saying seriously. "This is a personal decision; If one of you believes you are not ready, I do not want to hear about any of the others influencing that person to take the exam. There is no shame in waiting for the next one to come around, am I understood?"

"Yes, sensei" We said together before simultaneously bowing our heads to read the forms he had provided us with. I brought a pen out of my pocket and did not hesitate to sign the paper, holding it out for Takeshi to take before the ink had even dried. Takeshi-sensei's eyebrows rose as he saw all three of us doing the same thing, and soon three papers were being held out to him for him to take. Takeshi let out a chuckle, his entire face lighting up at Team Eleven's enthusiasm, before shaking his head and pushing the papers back at them

"You will report to the Academy with those in three days at 3:00PM sharp. That is where the first exam will take place." Takeshi explained, and I quickly folded the paper before carefully putting it back into my bag. "Now, what are you three waiting for? It looks like there is plenty of sunshine left, so get back to training! Oh, and I think fifty laps for Rafu's tardiness will suffice this time."

Akari and I groaned, sending glares at Rafu who looked sheepish, before we turned as one unit and started our laps around the training grounds. A standard day of training has us doing our punishment (this was unfortunately a common occurrence with the three of us), then we would use our specialties for the first portion. I used my bow and taijutsu primarily, making me a sufficient long and close quarters fighter. My ninjutsu was pretty bad, and my genjutsu was abysmal - I was okay at throwing one off, but I could barely do a henge well enough to graduate the academy. Akari specialized in ninjutsu and poisons, and Rafu was extraordinarily good at Genjutsu and medical chakra. Rafu had amazing control for a boy, which was why he was so good at what he did; he wasted almost no chakra whenever he used it.

After our specialization training, we would practice our team coordination with assaults against Takeshi-sensei or defending against him. The last thing the three of us did was spar; my favorite part of the entire training. Like I said, my ninjutsu was pretty bad and genjutsu was even worse, but I had one advantage over the other two - It was something I couldn't explain and not very many people knew about, excluding my team and the Hokage of course. I had this strange dojutsu that gave me the ability of what Hokage-sama called pre-flex - basically, I see things before they really happen. I'm not sure how it works exactly, It has it's limits but it was extraordinarily useful while I was fighting. For instance, I have never seen more than two minutes ahead but two minutes is a long time while you are fighting another shinobi. The downside is that the future is not linear, it is extremely complicated. The best example I can give is say that Akari is going to throw a shuriken at me, changed her mind to throw a senbon, and then finally decided to use ninjutsu instead, I would most likely see all three visions and realize that the last one was the one I would need to react to. If I was focused, it wouldn't be a problem; If I was distracted, however, keeping up with that much information is a lot to handle.

I would not actually see anything until she was committed to performing the action, once she had made a decision and the future became clear. So when one knew about my ability, you had to be impulsive and change what you were going to do a lot to render it useless, which is what Akira does. I won't comment on how ridiculously hard it is to fight like that. An incredibly hard thing to use in combat, and something incredibly hard to fight against as well; for the longest time, it was something I despised and couldn't control. That was until I met Akira and then Takeshi-sensei, who helped me control it and accept it for what it was. Now, with my recurve bow and taijutsu, I had an almost unbeatable defense and an amazing offense as well. I could dodge most attacks, use my long distance weapon to keep them at bay, and if it came down to it my close quarters was great as well. I had only used it once in a real fight, and when I blindfolded myself the other person freaked out as soon as I was able to dodge their attacks; the blindfold really helps with not getting distracted and allows me to focus on what they will be doing rather than what they are doing. After the initial shock factor, a lot of people just assumed I had amazing hearing. No one had guessed the truth yet.

At the end of our training day, the three of us collapsed on the ground exhausted from all of the work we had done. We sat in the grass as the warm, blood orange sunset warmed our red faces and dried the sweat soaked clothes we were wearing. I couldn't wait to get home and take a nice hot shower. After a couple of minutes, I sat up against a tree and watched the sky, one leg brought to my chest and my arms loosely wrapped around it. Rafu was sprawled out beside me, still staring up, and Akari had climbed the tree and was dangling her feet from a branch above our heads.

"Who else do you think will be in the exams?" Akari asked, breaking the silence that had surrounded the three of us.

"Guy-sensei's team for sure." Rafu voiced, moving his arms away to uncover his eyes. I remained silent, something my comrades were used too, while they discussed the upcoming exam and what surprises it may hold for the three of us. Sometimes I look back on this day and wonder if I knew then what I know now, would I have still participated in the exams? Would that have made such a big difference? Then I remember that if I hadn't, I never would have met him.

He would always be worth it.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This is the second chapter! I just polished it off, the chapter's will get a little onger as I go on, but for now this is what I have! I will try to update as soon as possible. Please review and give me encouragement, it will honestly make we want to update so much faster! Thank you everyone! Much love!**

Chapter Two

"I like your hair down." Akari said from where she was spread out on my bed. "It makes you seem less.. Stern."

"Should a proper shinobi not look stern?" I asked mockingly in my most official voice, causing Akari to laugh at me. I tied my hair up in it's usual topknot and allowed the braid with a feather interwoven to hang by my left eye with practiced ease.

"In a battle?" Akari asked rhetorically, pretending to think about it as she lounged on my mattress "Absolutely. In day to day life? Not if you want to attract someone special eventually."

"Just because you and Rafu have your happily ever after does not mean I would like the same." I said pointedly, suppressing my smirk when I saw the flush rising on her neck, I threw my quiver of arrows and my bow across my back.

"Shut up." Akari groaned, throwing herself back onto my bed. Akari and Rafu were very much into one another, but Akari refused to make the first move, saying a proper man should do it, and Rafu was so oblivious to her liking him that they just went around in circles. I had a bet with Takeshi-sensei that Akari's patience would never outlast how long Rafu would be oblivious, so she would end up making the first move. I tried to tease her or bring it up as much as possible in a sly way, so that it would drive the nail in the proverbial coffin a little more each time. Easy money to be earned, after all.

Finally, I secured my hitai-ite around my forehead and drew the two lines of dark green paint from the top of my cheekbones down to my jaw. Akari jumped up from my bed, knowing I was finished, and we both made our way out of my apartment to head towards the Academy. We were running a little behind, but after we dashed across the rooftops, we made it there with ten minutes to spare. Rafu was pacing outside the doors, waiting for us to show up, and when he saw us his face flashed from relief to irritation quickly.

"You guys ready?" Rafu asked, falling in beside us before as we walked towards the building and through the doors.

"Of course." I replied confidently, the corner of my mouth twitching in a smile at the thought of what challenges would be ahead of us. We had been training hard, we were ready for this, and we would become Chunin. I could feel it.

"Me too." Akari said "If we can survive a year and a half with Takeshi-sensei, we can do anything."

"Agreed." Rafu said, shivering a little dramatically before perking up as he thought of something. "Guess who else will be joining the exams this year?"

"Oh just tell us." Akari said, rolling her eyes

"You never guess!" Rafu complained "Just try it?"

"Tan?" Akari asked, playing along

"Nope!"

"Imachi?" I asked

"No!" Rafu practically chirped, his grin widening

"The Hokage." Akari deadpanned

"Oh come on." Rafu said "You'll never get it like that."

"Rafu." Akari said threateningly between clenched teeth, raising her hand up while I quickly stepped back so I was not in between them. "Just tell us."

"Please." I added as an afterthought, cocking my head to the side

"Alright, alright." Rafu said placatingly, throwing his hands up in the gesture one would use when approaching a wild animal; which was not a bad analogy when speaking about Akari. "The rookies from the Academy? The one's who were a year below us? All nine of them are competing."

We were both silent as we absorbed what he said. All nine rookies? Most Genin waited a year, some even more, before even trying the exams for the first time. It was hard to believe all three of their sensei's thought they were prepared enough to actually have a chance in them considering how brutal they exams were made out to be.

"That's certainly.. Bold." I said, contemplating what that would mean for us as a team. Strong competition or weak competition? It would not be smart to underestimate them because of their age or experience until I could learn more and deduce an opinion from observation of their skills personally. I felt a wave of nostalgia as we passed through the Academy, remembering the more simple days fondly.

"..I know I wasn't!" Akari was saying as I tuned back into the conversation. She was still discussing the rookies, I realized. "I just hope they're ready."

Akari had what Rafu, Takeshi-sensei, and I called mother bear syndrome - basically, she was overbearingly protective sometimes, even of people she doesn't really know. Rafu gave me a look from behind Akari's back and I smirked, mouthing MBS back at him. He let out a snort which immediately got Akari's attention.

"What's so funny, Rafu?" Akari asked innocently with a dangerous glint in her eye.

"Nothing!" Rafu said quickly, looking at me for help when she wouldn't look away. There was no way I was getting involved, so I shrugged in response and kept walking down the hall while the other two stopped. I supressed my laugh when I heard her fist connect with the back of his hand.

"No lasting damage before the exam." I called back to Akari just as I reached the staircase, pausing to wait for the other two. A moment later Rafu passed me with a mumbled "thanks a lot", starting to climb the stairs while rubbing his head.

"What was that?" Akari asked again, coming up behind. I glance over and saw the satisfied look on her face as she saw his spine go straight. I shook my head at their antics, beginning to climb to the third floor where the exams were taking place. We were running tad behind, there was only about ten minutes left until the exam was due to start. We entered the room together and stood at the door for a moment, taking stock of the ninja gathered in the room. There were so many different shinobi from the villages around the lands: Sand, Rain, Grass, and of course from our own village as well. Standing off to the side was TenTen, with her teammates Neji Hyuuga and Rock Lee, who I waved at; we had been friendly in the academy, but fell out of touch since.

"Yosh! Look! It is our comrades from the Academy!" Lee exclaimed, spotting the three of us entering.

"Oh geez." I muttered in exasperation, sharing a look with my team. Akari muffled a giggle at Lee's antics behind her hand and Rafu just smiled at him. Lee had changed since the academy, his hair was in a bowl cut and he was wearing the same kind of green outfit as Might Guy does. The bushy eyebrows were the same though and he still had a cartoonish amount of energy. "Hey Lee, you ..good. How have you been?"

"Ren, thank you I have trained very hard to become the best shinobi possible under the greatest sensei!" Lee basically shouted, his eyes shining with determination.

"Hey Akari, Ren, Rafu." Tenten said, waving at us as she walked up next to Lee. Neji followed his teammates but barely spared us a glance, as stuck up as usual. Neji never thought much of us, he didn't see us as competition because we didn't try very hard back in the academy days but he was in for a surprise because we have all been training extraordinarily hard for the last year and a half.

"Hey Tenten, you look great!" Akari said, sparing her fellow kunoichi a smile. "Are you guys ready for the test?"

"Yeah, I think so. How about you three?" Tenten responded, looking us over "It looks like you've done a lot of training since we saw you last."

"I think we're ready." I said confidently, cocking my head to the side as I evaluated some of the other shinobi loitering around the room. I saw three genin from the sound village, which surprised me because it was a rather new village that popped out of nowhere. I also saw nine leaf genin gathered at the front of the room and automatically pegged them for the rookies, they were a loud bunch. I saw Naruto as well, it was hard to miss the orange jumpsuit and that spiky blond hair.

"Yosh! We are stronger than ever as well! We will prove it in these exams!" Lee said, smiling at the three of us.

"Have you guys heard about the rookies this year?" Akari asked

"We ran into them." Tenten said, a small smirk playing at her lips "That Sasuke Uchiha is something."

"Which one is he?" Rafu asked

"The cute one over there, with the black hair." Tenten responded cheekily

"He is cute!" Akari agreed, looking over where the young Uchiha was scowling at Naruto for something he had said.

"He's not that impressive." Rafu said, a slight hint of jealousy on his face as he looked at Akari with a frown. I rolled my eyes, knowing Akari had probably said that just to try to get a reaction out of Rafu. Those two were nothing if not predictable.

"Let's get ready." Neji interjected before anyone could say anything else, heading slightly away from us. It was good to see that he was just as rude now as he was back in the academy days.

"We better go with him." Tenten said apologetically, turning to go. "Good luck, you three."

"You as well." I responded, just as Ibiki-san called the room to attention. Ibiki Morino was going to be the proctor for the first part of the exam, the written test. He called us forward to receive a number that correlated with a seat, successfully dividing us from our teammates. I sighed, going to get my number, and found the seat that said 34 on it.

I found the seat, one next to a genin from the grass village and the other seat next to mine was empty for now. I took my seat and waited, looking around to find where Akari and Rafu had been put. Akari was two rows down and a little to the left of me, and I could not find Rafu with all of the other people standing around and looking for their seats. I felt the chair next to mine shift as someone took the open seat next to me, and spared a glance their way; it was a leaf shinobi, one of the nine rookies fresh out of the academy. My gray eyes met his half-lidded brown ones and I flashed a quick smile, glad to have a comrade next to me instead of another foreign ninja. Granted, we were all competitors here, it was still nice to have a somewhat friendly face beside me instead of a hostile one. He had spiky brown hair and wore a short jacket over a mesh shirt, his hitai-ite was secured to his left shoulder on the jacket.

"I'm Ren." I told him quietly as the rest of the genin found their seats.

"Nara Shikamaru." He responded, his voice a little raspy as though he had just woken up. I nodded to indicate I had heard him before focusing on Ibiki-sans words about the guidelines in the first exam. He told us about the nine questions in front of us and how we would be failed if we got caught cheating more than three times. The chunin lining the walls of the exam room were to watch us and try to catch us if we cheated, marking it down on clipboards they had in their hands. In my head I wondered why they wouldn't just try to fail us straight off the bat, like most tests. Something was definitely not right with this because these questions were far above genin level and we could not be expected to know the answers. Knowing Ibiki-san was head of T&I for Konoha, I figured there was a meaning behind the test that was not completely obvious. Looking to my left, I saw Nara Shikamaru had laid his head down and closed his eyes.

'Good thing he's taking this test seriously.' I thought to myself, stifling a snort at the ninja.

I saw Akari ahead using sign language to communicate with someone, most likely Rafu, so I waited until she made eye contact with me. We were all taught standard leaf signs in the academy, but the three of us had altered it so that we could communicate with just the three of us in case of an emergency. She glanced at me, scratching her ear and putting a hand on her thigh before clenching it, then using a couple of letter, before touching her neck. She asked if I thought anything was off with the way Ibiki-san had said do not get caught, instead of do not do it.

Realizing what they had deduced, I responded by saying we must have to cheat to be able to win. That was why the questions were so hard, it must be testing our resourcefulness, stealth, and teamwork while we are at a disadvantage. She nodded slightly, before looking over at Rafu and speaking with him. I waited patiently, eyes scanning the room casually, and it wasn't long before Akari told me Rafu was sitting beside someone who had the answers and he would relay them to her, then Akari would relay them to I. Shikamaru lifted his head after about fifteen minutes into the exam, causing me to take notice as he looked over at a blonde girl who had slumped over in her seat.

'I bet that is his teammate.' I thought to myself, wondering everyone on his team had a thing for sleeping through the exam. I saw him smirk out of the corner of my eye, and glancing back to where his teammate dressed in purple with long blonde hair, I saw she had gotten up and was furiously scribbling onto her exam paper. 'So, she got the answers somehow - that's interesting.'

When I turned back around, I saw that he had noticed me looking and was staring at me. I raised my eyebrows and cocked my head to the side, which only got me a smirk in return. Rolling my eyes, I noticed Akari was signalling for me to pay attention with her - she had gotten the answers to the first three questions and was ready to relay them to me. I looked down the aisle at the Chunin who was supposed to be watching us and noticed him looking at a guy a few seats down from me with interest, so I told Akari to go ahead and give them to me. I wrote neatly as she signed to me, trying to be as casual as possible so I did not attract any attention to myself. 'Just act like you know the answers yourself, not like you are getting them.' I told myself

Shikamaru had noticed me beginning to write the answers and it was my turn to give him a smug smile as I finished the third question and then looked pointedly at his blank exam. The tan Nara just shrugged and looked around the room, not appearing to have a care in the world. After about ten more minutes, Akari had gotten the next set of three and I copied the answers down diligently. It was then that the Nara basically collapsed on his desk for a moment, a glazed look in his eye and I wondered if I should be worried. I jumped slightly as another team got disqualified before shaking my head and returning to my test. As I finished filling out the sixth question, his eyes cleared up and he sat back up, writing the answers down on his previously empty paper. My eyebrows rose of their own accord, wondering where the sudden inspiration came from and what it had to do with his blonde friend, when he noticed me once again watching him.

"You're pretty cute!" Shikamaru almost squealed, his voice slightly less raspy than it was earlier. My eyes widened, wondering where the hell that came from, before noticing the flush creeping onto his cheeks.

"Thanks." I said quietly in return, winking at the ninja next to me. "You are too."

"Uh-oh." Shikamaru said under his breath, tearing his eyes from mine and going back to writing on his paper. I frowned slightly at the weird turn around in behavior, but figured he was just focusing on the test so I looked to Akari to see if she had gotten any more of them from Rafu. She was ready, so I finished the exam and sat back for the end of the hour to be here. It was not long until the Nara genin next to me finished his exam as well, and once again he slumped over with a sort of glassy expression in his eyes, before straightening up in his seat. Our eyes met once again and I winked at him, enjoying the way his cheeks heated up a little before he sent a death glare towards his teammate for some reason. I shrugged off the weird behavior; being around weird characters was pretty standard in the shinobi world, we all learned to get used to it.

As the test was almost over, that was when Ibiki told us about the tenth question. He told us that if we stayed to answer and we got it wrong, we would have to remain genin for the rest of our shinobi career. However, if we got up and left the room now, we could always take the next exam in six months. At this point, half of the room had gotten up to leave, and a few got up after Ibiki-san told them the consequences of the tenth question. I saw the question in Akari's eyes as she looked to me to decide whether we stayed or left, so subtly putting my head into my arms I activated my dojutsu so no one could see my eyes, and glimpsed a couple of minutes into the future.

* * *

 _A couple more people had left, more than half the seats in the room were empty, and there was Naruto with one leg on his desk pointing a finger at Ibiki. Naruto shouted that he was not afraid before telling Ibiki that even if he was a genin forever, he would still become the next Hokage. As Ibiki waited to see if anyone else was leaving, he seemed to nod to himself as he noticed the resolve on the faces still sitting in the room, and he smirked to himself as he announced that we had all passed._

* * *

I rose my head up and looked right at Akari, putting the stay motion up, and seeing how sure I was in my face, she nodded her head and relayed the message to Rafu. Then, after a few more people left the room, Naruto stood up and told Ibiki-san that he was not going to scare him into quitting and the rest played out exactly as I had seen it. Ibiki told us they were testing our abilities at intelligence gathering and getting that intelligence to our allies without being noticed, as well as our resolve. That was when Anko-sama burst into the room and began her lecture. I suppressed a laugh when I noticed Ibiki-san's face as he told her that she was, yet again, early. Anko didn't seem to care very much and simply told all of us she was the proctor for the second part of the Chunin exam and that half of us would be eliminated in the next part. Then we were to meet her at a training ground tomorrow; after that, we were all dismissed. I got up to leave and smirked one last time at Shikamaru, who muttered something about someone being a pain, and then I met up with Rafu and Akari.

"Who were you flirting with?" Akari asked, eyebrows raised in question. My hand jumped to cover her mouth, glancing around to see if the Nara boy had heard her rather loud proclamation.

"Would you be quiet?" I hissed, sending her a dirty look

"It's okay, Ren." Rafu said, clapping me on the shoulder. "Whoever it was, I think Akari is just happy for you."

"Thanks, Rafu." I muttered sourly, taking my hand off of Akari's mouth as she licked me, groaning in disgust as I wiped my hand off on my pants. "It's not like we are going on a date or anything, I met the guy today."

"But you do think he's cute?" Akari asked, being her ever nosy self

"Lay off, Akari." I rebutted, turning to make my way out of the door. "We have way more important things to think about. This next test is the survival portion, so we need to get our bags packed for however long we will be out there and we need to be prepared for the worst."

Akari opened her mouth, most likely to protest that she could do both at the same time, but Rafu cut her off. "Ren is right, we need to get going so we can get a goodnight's sleep and a good meal after we pack. We should see if Takeshi-sensei is allowed to help us and see if he has any advice on what we should pack extra besides what we would for just another mission."

I threw Rafu a grateful look as we exited the academy. The three of us promised to meet up at a tea shop that night in three hours, Rafu would let Takeshi-sensei know to come, to celebrate our passing the first portion of the exam and see if we could get a game plan together for the second portion. We split off in different directions, Akari heading home to her parents and Rafu doing the same, while I made my way to my apartment. I had moved into my own apartment when I became a genin and started making money, however little, from missions.

 **A/N: Don't forget to favorite, follow, and review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, so I know all of the rookies are 12 - I am changing that to 13. Honestly, it is weird enough to have them flirting right now as 13/14 and 12 is just.. No.**

 **I would feel more comfortable waiting until they were older, but in the show Rock Lee had already showed interest in Sakura, Sakura and Ino were basically in love with Sasuke, so I know it would not be weird for Ren to be crushing on Shikamaru.. Also, they are basically treated as adults once they graduate the academy, but it still feels weird. Just.. bare with me here, there will not be any explicit acts while they are this young though I'll tell you that right now.**

 **Also, I know they went straight from the first exam to the second but I thought they deserved a little break; so they were told to meet them there the next day instead. Enjoy!**

Chapter Three

"Hey, Takeshi-sensei." I greeted, shooting Rafu a smile as well as I appeared in front of the tea shop we had agreed to meet at. I looked around the dimly lit room for Akari, but did not see the dark-haired girl at all. "Where is Akari?"

"Late, as usual." Rafu responded dryly

"When you two get married, you are never going to show up on time anywhere." I told him, enjoying the way he sputtered and turned a lovely shade of crimson. "Oh calm down, Raf, I was only joking with you."

"About the being late part, that is." Takeshi interjected, smirking at us both. "Let's go ahead and grab a table, she can just come over when she gets here."

"Okay." I said, heading over to one of the booths instead of the tables with pull out chairs. I will never understand people who would rather sit at a table than a booth; on a mission, I get it, you want all of your team members to be able to get out and react as fast as possible, but in our own village and for comforts sake? Booth will win every day of the week, hands down. I looked over the menu as I slid into the booth, Takeshi sitting beside me. Usually Takeshi sensei sat next to me so that Akari and Rafu had to sit next to one another. Never let it be said that our sensei was not a closet romance junkie, because he ate this shit up like it was dango.

"There she is!" Takeshi said jovially, waving at Akari who had just walked through the curtained off door. She lifted a hand and waggled her fingers at us to let us know she saw us before making her way over.

"Sorry, okaasan made me help move a bunch of stuff out of your old room today." Akari said, directing the room comment to me with a glare that lacked any real heat. "Thank's for helping."

"What am I?" I asked, cocking my head to the side and smirking "A mind reader?"

"For someone who can see the future, you sure do miss a lot." Akari quipped back snarkily

"Maybe it was on purpose." I said, winking at her. "I am sorry though, I meant to come by and pick that stuff up ages ago. Tell oka-san I will come get it after the exams are over."

"Tell her yourself, she keeps saying since you moved out she never see's you anymore." Akari told me, and I felt guilt sinking into my stomach. Most of my childhood had been spent living with Akari's family, her parents might as well have been mine as well, and since I had moved out I had not been over as often as I should have been.

"I'll go back with you after dinner." I promised, looking forward to seeing my foster family. In truth, it had only been a couple of weeks but when you go from seeing someone almost every day (even if it was only for an hour or so) to every couple of weeks, you do tend to miss them. "Maybe she will make me food to take home!"

"Oh kami, you know she will." Akari said, rolling her eyes and picking up the tea that Rafu had thoughtfully ordered for her. "If you aren't careful, she'll be over at your apartment half the time just making sure you eat well."

"I wouldn't mind." I laughed, easily imagining the sight of the willowy woman with red hair flitting around my kitchen and complaining about my lack of organization and supplies.

"So." Takeshi-sensei said, cutting off any response Akari might have had as he looked at the three of us seriously. "I wanted to wait until all of you were together to ask, but how was the first exam?"

"It was a breeze." Akari said easily, gesturing with her hand as she read the menu. Rafu and I murmured our agreement, with Rafu going into detail about the hard questions but the obvious signs that we were supposed to cheat. He explained it had not been hard to cheat off the person next to him, who he had found out later was a Chunin planted in the exam for that exact reason, and then relay the information to Akari and myself.

"The tenth question almost had me sweating though." Rafu commented, and I smirked at the thought of how mad those who had left would be when they found out that the answer was honestly just to stay to hear that we had passed.

"I worried for a second as well." Akari agreed, looking at me with a fond smile. "Luckily, our little crystal ball over here took a sneak peek and knew it wouldn't be a problem."

"That is great to hear, you guys." Takeshi said, smiling proudly at all of us "It sounds like you really pulled together as a team, as usual, and that is what made the test so easy. If you just keep relying and trusting one another, you are going to be just fine."

"Thanks sensei." We all chimed, exchanging amused looks between the three of us. Sometimes it seems like Takeshi sensei was more anxious about us on missions and us going through the exam than we were.

"Alright, now let's eat!" Takeshi exclaimed, grinning as he waved over a waitress. "This one's on me. You are going to need your strength tomorrow, so eat well but don't overdo it - for yours and my wallet's sake!"

We laughed and quickly ordered our favorite dishes, the tea shop in the middle of town was somewhere that we frequented quite often. It was one of Takeshi-sensei's old haunts and where we met as a team for the first time while we discussed our goals and Takeshi introduced himself to us. We had a lot of fond memories of this place, that was for sure; when the waitress brought us our food, we tucked in and had easy conversation, the anxiety for the test tomorrow temporarily non-existent in the company of our little family. When we were done, we stayed and drank a couple of glasses of tea before we left. It was then that we asked Takeshi about what we should pack, and he advised us to do what we normally would on a mission but maybe with some extra surprises if we had any. I made a mental note to add a couple of explosive tags to my weapons pouch that night while I was packing my stuff, and before I knew it, it was time to leave and head to Akari's house for a quick visit before heading home. After the three of us split up, Akari and I ran across the roofs, racing one another to see who could make it there first.

I came to a stop, grinning at her when she showed up a couple of seconds later on the roof of her family home. Akari pursed her lips but didn't say anything, jumping down from the roof and into her bedroom via the window where I quickly followed. The room hadn't changed since we were ten years old; it had the same purple walls, dark bed sheets, and closet overflowing with laundry that was a mix of clean and dirty. Akari walked through the room and down the stairs, with me close on her heels eager to see her parents.

"Okaasan!" Akari called out, walking through the living room and into the kitchen where I could hear her mom bustling about. "I'm home! I found a stray, it followed me home, so I was wondering if we could keep it."

"Akari, you know your father detests anima-" Yama turned around, a stern look on her face until she saw me grinning behind Akari. Her eyes widened and a smile broke out on her face, and she strode forward after drying her hands before she enveloped me into a hug. Yama gave the best hugs, they were not too loose and not too tight, they radiated love and comfort. "Ren-chan! Oh, it's so good to see you!"

"It's good to see you as well, okaasan." I responded, my voice slightly muffled from being pressed into her apron. "I'm sorry I haven't stopped by recently, I've been very busy training."

"You always work too hard." Yama scolded lovingly, moving the braid out of my face as was her habit. "How are you? Have you been eating?"

"Not as well as I do when I'm here." I replied, grinning and ignoring Akari rolling her eyes.

"Well, we will have to fix that, won't we?" Yama said with a laugh

"Absolutely, okaasan!" I agreed enthusiastically, grinning at the older woman. "Akari said you had some of my things laying around?"

"Oh yes, dear, I finally got Akari to stop being lazy and we cleaned out your room." Yama said, ignoring Akari's yelp of indignation at being called lazy. "You don't have to get it all today. I'm thinking of turning that into a sort of craft room, I've been thinking about picking up sewing so I can repair all of the rips and tears Akari manages to get while training or out on missions."

"I bet you'll be great at it." I told her smiling. Behind Yama, Akari mimicked me silently and made a face that was clearly meant to say I was kissing ass; I couldn't help it though, I loved Akari's parents as if they were my own. I honestly don't know where I would be now if they had not taken me in when they did.

"Well thank you, Ren-chan!" Yama said, before a slightly worried look came across her face for a moment before she smoothed it over. "That will always be your room if you need one though, don't forget that, okay?"

"Thank you, okaasan." I replied gently, smiling "You know I love you all, I greatly appreciate that. It's only normal for you to use it for something now that it is empty though!"

"You two have grown up so fast!" Yama said, wiping her eyes which had gotten a little misty. This was, unfortunately, a pretty frequent occurrence so neither Akari nor I were surprised at the overly emotional face her mother was wearing. "Now, how were the Chunin exams? Did you destroy your competition?"

"I already told you about the test, Okaasan." Akari said, snatching a piece of fruit from the cutting board her mother had abandoned to talk to us.

"Akari! You just ate, that is for later." Yama said in her 'I mean business and I am your mother' tone, wagging a finger at her. "I know you did, but I want to hear it from Ren so I know you aren't hiding anything."

"We passed!" I said cheerfully, grinning at Yama "It wasn't too difficult, I think the next part will be much worse. I almost enjoyed the test, it made you think."

"Oh, I'll bet you did enjoy your seat." Akari muttered slyly, laughing a little

"What do you mean, dear?" Yama asked, glancing between her daughter and myself curiously. I felt my face heat up and sent Akari a glare, refusing to say anything to her mother.

"Ren sat next to a boy that called him cute and now Ren-kun likes him." Akari said teasingly, making me hit her shoulder right after the words came out of her mouth.

"I don't even know him, Akari." I hissed, the flush on my face refusing to go away but I was going to blame it on anger instead of embarrassment.

"Oh that's wonderful!" Yama said, way too cheerfully and I groaned, knowing what was coming next. "What's his name?"

I muttered a response, but too low for them both to hear me. It was only after Yama scolded me for mumbling and avoiding the question that I told them. "Nara Shikamaru."

"One of the Nara clan, huh?" Yama asked rhetorically, a teasing smile playing at the corners of her lips. "Well, it's a good thing you like deer!"

"Okaasan!" I complained, ducking my head "Not you too! We exchanged five sentences, if that."

"Are you denying you think he is cute?" Akari asked, an eyebrow raised at me

"He's a rookie fresh out of the academy, he's only thirteen." I said, avoiding the question.

"You're avoiding answering." Akari pointed out, as merciless as usual. "Besides, you're only fourteen; what's a year? Okaasan and Otosan are four years apart."

"Alright musume, that's enough teasing Ren for now." Yama said, swatting at her daughter playfully.

"Thank you, okaasan!" I exclaimed gratefully, sticking my tongue out at Akari behind Yama's back.

"Anytime, Ren-chan. I wouldn't want you to die from embarrassment before I got to meet your new friend Nara Shikamaru." Yama replied, winking and making my face heat up all over again and Akari to bust out laughing. It wasn't that I honestly liked the boy, I did think he was kind of cute, but I hated this kind of attention and they both knew it; it made me blush. I tried to play it off and act cocky, but I just felt really awkward in those kind of situations.

"Where is Otosan?" I asked, going with my normal tactic and obviously changing the subject. Yama gave me a knowing look but allowed the subject to drop for now, although I'm sure that was not the last I would hear of it.

"He is on a mission." Akari explained, stealing another piece of fruit behind Yama's back. "Won't be back for three more days."

"Oh, we will be in the second part of the exam." I said, leaning against the counter and cocking my head to the side to look at Yama. "Will you be alright on your own, oka-san?"

"Excuse you, Ren-chan." Yama huffed, wagging that finger in my direction now. "I was taking care of myself before you were even born, I think I can manage a few days by myself; in fact, I may actually get some real work done around here without all you rascal's underfoot!"

"Alright, alright." I said placatingly, holding up my hands "Just asking, jeez! You know you love having us underfoot though, Yama-san!"

"I do wish you would come around more often." Yama admitted, smiling fondly at Akari and I. "It used to be such a full house with you two and Rafu running around! I get to see Akari less and less, Rafu is with her fifty percent of the time, and I'm lucky if I see you twice every two weeks Ren-chan!"

"I'm sorry, I'll try to visit as often as I can." I promised, feeling a little guilty at how little I had truly been around. "If I am in the village, I will try to visit at least once a week for a little while."

"I'd love that, Ren." Yama said gently, brushing my braid out of my eyes lovingly again. "I understand you are all growing up and becoming more and more busy though, so don't feel bad! Just don't forget this will always be a home for you as well, okay?"

"Promise, okaasan!" I agreed, hugging the woman tightly.

"Alright, now let's get you some food packed up and then you need to go get ready to get a good night's sleep for the exam tomorrow!" Yama said, gesturing to the cabinet that held the containers to store food in. "You three will do well, I'm sure, but good luck anyway!"

"Thanks!" I said, smiling and feeling my body thrum with the excitement and nerves thoughts of tomorrow brought.

Yama packed me a few days worth of home cooked meals, which I was especially excited for, and told me to come back after we were finished with the exam and she would make me a full weeks worth to take home. After that, Akari helped me bring a couple of my old boxes (mostly pillows, a blanket, and a photo album from the academy I had left over there) to my apartment. I unpacked them fairly quickly and without further ado, double checking my bag one more time before falling asleep, I closed my eyes in an attempt to get a good night's rest.

* * *

I woke up that morning and dashed to the field, my mission bag on my back and ready to go. We were to spend five days in the Forest of Death and I had brought my bow and arrows, a couple of explosive tags, and of course my shuriken. I was as prepared as I could be, but I was nervous as well; there was a reason this training ground was for Chunin level and above, it was full of difficult wildlife and not to mention the other teams as well.

When we got there and were standing in our teams, Anko-sama told us each team would get either a heaven or an earth scroll to carry throughout the duration of the mission. The goal was to get both scrolls and get to the tower in the center of the forest with all of your teammates, and not to open the scrolls under any circumstance.

"That means half of us at least will be getting eliminated." Rafu muttered to us both, a wary expression on his normally cheerful face. Takeshi-sensei was standing behind us with his arms crossed, an impassive look on his face as we listened to the rules. Anko-sama was.. Certainly a bizarre person, proven when she cut Naruto's face and licked the blood off before cheerfully telling us that we had to sign a waiver that basically said we understood we could die in here and that the village hidden in the leaves was not responsible for our deaths.

"Alright! Once you have signed these forms, step into this booth and exchange them for a scroll, then report to a gate to wait for them to open and the second part of the Chunin exams to begin!" Anko-sama called out, gesturing enthusiastically at the booth right behind where she was standing.

"We need a strategy." I said, the three of us standing together in a tight circle. "Who should carry the scroll?"

"I think Rafu should." Akari said with a contemplative expression on her face before she explained her reasoning. "He is the only one of us who knows medical jutsu, so he needs to stay out of the fight as much as possible. You and I will be in the thick of it for the most part."

"I agree." I said, nodding along to myself. I was honestly thinking along the same lines before I had even asked, but wanted to make sure it was a unanimous decision before saying anything. "Any objections, Rafu?"

"Just be careful." Rafu said, agreeing in his own way. "I think we should find a team and ambush them as soon as possible, get the scroll, then double time it to the tower. Teams who lose their scrolls will be waiting to ambush people at the tower the longer we stay out there in a last ditch effort to stay in the exam."

"Agreed." I said, and as we signed our forms and got our Earth scroll from the Chunin behind the curtain at the booth, we made sure it was well hidden on Rafu's person before exiting. I saw a group of Sand Ninja, thankfully not the one with the redhead in the group because he gave me the creeps, and noticed they stopped at a gate somewhat near our own. "Any groups look appealing to you guys?"

"Some of the rookies would probably be our best bet." Akari said instantly

"I would prefer to avoid other leaf shinobi." I said, looking between her and Rafu.

"Don't wanna eliminate your boyfriend?" Akari said with a teasing smirk

"Not now, Akari." Rafu said, giving her a sharp glance. "We need to be focused, save the teasing for the winners circle. I agree with Ren; the more leaf shinobi in the last exam the better for our village, so we should try to avoid it if we can."

"If we are desperate and the opportunity arrives, then we can think about taking out another team of leaf genin." I agreed, waiting for the others to nod in agreement before waiting patiently for the time for the exam to begin.

As soon as he gates opened, we dashed through them, hoping to gain ground on some other team and be able to lay an ambush. The forest was big and dark in some places because of the large trees, so we stayed near one another as we ran. Akari took point, with Rafu in the middle, and I was bringing up the rear. Akari was our heavy hitter, so she usually took the lead, while I had range because of my bow, and Rafu needed to be in the middle since he had the scroll. It was a couple of hours that we ran, not truly stopping for much rest until we came upon a clearing that seemed safe enough for a quick breather.

"We might be running into another team soon." Akari said, taking a small drink out of her canteen of water before passing it to Rafu, who did the same.

"Yes, should we wander until we come across someone or wait to ambush them?" Rafu asked, passing the water container to me. The forest was humid and muggy, the cool water tasted amazing going down my throat and I had to remind myself to only drink sparingly. We didn't know when we would come across a stream, so we had to play it safe; there were five more days after all.

"I think we should wander." I said after a moment of thinking with my head cocked to the side, pondering the best way to go about it. "There is no guarantee that a group will pass this way. I'm confident if we fell into a trap, we could most likely get out of it. I think it will be faster to scout out the area as if it was a grid and systematically make our way towards the center."

"Whatever makes allows us to leave this kami forsaken forest the fastest." Akari muttered, taking the canteen back from me and stowing it in her bag once again. "I get a bad feeling from this place."

"It puts me on edge as well." Rafu admitted, looking around warily for any signs of trouble.

"Something does feel off about it." I agreed, activating my dojutsu for a moment to see if there were any signs of trouble that may be in the near future. My two comrades waited for my eyes to turn from the icy blue back to the clouded gray once again before I shook my head, confirming that I saw nothing, and we were off once again to tree hop through the forest.

We traveled at a more sedate pace throughout the day, doubling back periodically to ensure no one was following us and to make our trail harder to see as well. We did not run into another group on the first day, so we made a cold camp that night and took turns watching. The forest was even more eerie at night time; sometimes, it was far too silent for a regular forest and sometimes it seemed as though unnatural noises were surrounding us. We had not seen much in the way of wildlife yet besides a few birds and insects. I was glad when it was time for me to sleep, I trusted my Rafu to keep a sharp eye on everything and I welcomed the peace of sleep over the uncannily silent forest.

 _The forest was mostly dark, there was a small fraction of pink and orange at the very top of the trees from the sunrise. Akari was pacing quietly around the campground, as silent as a shrew, her eyes constantly scanning to make sure she did not become complacent in watch. This was one of the techniques Takeshi-sensei had taught us, to ensure your eyes did not lose focus and to make sure you did not become accustomed to the same sights all night._

 _A branch snapped somewhere to the left of where Rafu slept, curled onto a thin sleeping pallet, and Akari's hand darted automatically to her weapons pouch to grip a shuriken. Cautiously, she made her way over to where the noise had originated from before lifting the shuriken and throwing it with expert precision, hearing a dull thunk as it connected with a log unseen beyond the foliage. Her shoulders lost some of the tension, but she was rooted to the spot, her hand still close to the weapons pouch on her waist. She seemed to think for a moment before grabbing her light out of the pouch and stepping a little closer to the edge of where we had made our camp, up against a massive tree that was semi hollowed out._

 _As soon as she took a step and had almost lit up the flashlight, a small rodent darted from the bushes where she had been staring at. She tensed for a moment, then smiling wanly to herself, shook her head and rolled her shoulders before pacing again. As soon as her back was turned, that was when the bushed exploded with action and a rock the size of a small boar came pelting towards her. She whirled around and tried to dodge, almost successful but her arm was twisted in an unnatural way. The Iwa ninja came out of the bushes then and her yell had woken us both up, and the fight was on._

I awoke with a gasp, seeing Akari had just stopped pacing to look over to the left before she saw me wake up. I shook Rafu to wake him up, being as inconspicuous as possible, and his eyes snapped open to meet mine. He stayed lying down, eyes on my own, and I gestured for him to be ready for a fight nonchalantly before doing our own signs, scratching my left thigh and twisting my neck as though to pop it twice, my eyes flickering over to the bushes I had seen the Iwa ninja's jump out of. Akari nodded imperceptibly, and I held out my fist in a silent countdown.

 _3_

 _2_

 _1_

 _Go._

Akari went through the hand signs quickly and shot a ball of fire into the bushes, ducking when a rock came flying back out at her and avoiding it completely. We heard a hiss of pain and that accompanied with the smell of burnt flesh let us know she had gotten at least one of them. I rolled over to my side, slinging my bow across my chest, before I got my hands up in a defensive position with my back facing Akari and Rafu's backs. We were in a triangle, waiting to see if they would step into our little clearing and face us.

Two of them came from a little higher up, and Akari engaged one while the other went straight for Rafu. I did a high kick at the guy as he dropped down, but he quickly blocked it and went to engage Rafu.

"I got him, find the other." Rafu said, pulling out a kunai and throwing it at the Iwa opponent. I looked around the clearing, seeing that Akari obviously outmatched her opponent, I felt confident she would be able to help Rafu if he needed it. I jumped up into the tree, starting to go into a circle to see if he was hanging around and waiting to jump in and help his friends. While I was searching for him, I kept my eyes on the fight slightly below me as often as I could to ensure neither Rafu nor Akari were in trouble.

It was on the opposite side of where the original attack had come from that I saw him, going through hand signs quickly, and as soon as our eyes met I had the sudden feeling as though I was falling.

It was like my eyes jerked open of their own accord, I was lying on a bed with my hands tied down as well as my legs. I was wearing restraints in a pure, white room; my clothes were white and I didn't have any of my weapons at all. My eyes darted wildly around the room, wondering what the hell was going on, before realizing this must be a genjutsu - that was when the door opened and the Iwa shinobi walked in with a lab coat on.

"Patient 920, how are you feeling?" The other shinobi said, an almost gentle smile on his face

"Like I am going to kick your ass when I get out of this genjutsu." I said through clenched teeth, trying to focus on releasing the illusion. I hated these stupid mind tricks and I hated how bad I was at getting out of them - there was something so inherently wrong with someone messing with the mind like this.

The Iwa ninja sighed tiredly, coming to sit on the corner of the bed and looking at the clipboard in his hand again. "You're suffering from these delusions again, aren't you?"

"What the hell are you on about?" I said, spitting at the brown haired guy sitting on my bed.

"That you are a ninja and I'm one of the 'evil shinobi' who you are against." He responded, his tone practically dripping condescendingly. "When will you learn to face the real world? We don't enjoy locking you up like this, you know."

"Oh, so I just made up Akari and Rafu?" I asked, rolling my eyes at how much of an idiot this guy was to think I'd fall for something like this. "Where are they?"

"Akari is your roommate here at the Asylum." The Iwa ninja said, shaking his head almost sadly at me.

My heart froze for a minute, a cold dread washing over me; No, there was no way he knew about that. How the hell did he know about this? I never got admitted. Akari rescued me, she was never going to let them put me in one of these. He's lying, it's a genjutsu; just remain calm and release yourself. Breathe, don't panic, release.

"Release." I said, closing my eyes and willing myself to break the hold he had over me.

"I'll show you." the fake doctor said, going to the door and pushing a button on a speaker before he began talking into it. "Could you bring Patient 921 in here as well as Nurse Moki?"

"Yes sir." was the response, a voice so devoid of emotion it should have startled me.

"Look, I want to help you - I really think we were on the verge of a break through until the delusions started back up." The Iwa man in the lab coat was saying to me, approaching my bed with an encouraging smile on his face. "Just tell me where you hid your medicine - I think you called it a scroll or something of that nature. Once we have you on your medicine, we can get you on the way to being better again."

"Like I'll fall for that." I said, looking away from him and struggling against the stupid restraints holding me in. I couldn't break this genjutsu, I wasn't good enough so I just needed to wait for Akari or Rafu to come help me. They would help me, there wasn't a genjutsu any genin could do that would be able to hold Rafu, I was sure of that.

"I'm not the enemy here, Ren." The doctor said, an almost pained expression on his face. That was when the door opened and in walked Akari, white pants and a white blouse on. Right after her came Rafu, wearing the kind of clothes they do at hospitals.

"Hey Ren." Rafu said, smiling at me cheerfully. "The doctor said you could come outside with Akari and I once you get your medicine. Where did you put it this time?"

"Rafu, it's a genjutsu. You have to break it." I said, my eyes pleading with his warm, glossy eyes.

"Ren, come on. You know your delusions aren't good for Akari here, she gets too wrapped into that playing ninja stuff with you. It isn't good for either of you to live in your fantasy world." Rafu scolded lightly, a sad frown on his face.

"It's not pretend!" Akari shouted, and my eyes darted to hers in relief when I heard her outburst. Thank god I wasn't the only one, we needed to figure out a way to break this or we could be in serious trouble. "We are really ninja! Watch!"

"Air Release: Cutting Edge!" Akari shouted, doing some kind of weird gesture with her hand before blowing out of her mouth as hard as she could towards the guy in the lab coat sitting on the corner of my bed. The Iwa ninja just frowned sadly at her, shaking his head, before turning to plead with me once again.

"Look at what you have gotten into her head now, Ren." the doctor said, shaking his head in disappointment. "Where is the medicine? Where did you put it?"

I refused to look at Rafu, even though I desperately wanted to so I could ensure the scroll was safe. God this felt so real; I could feel the circulation in my arms being cut off from the restraints. Rafu grabbed Akari around the waist and dragged her from the room, her kicking and screaming about fire release technique and how she was going to burn us all to a crisp. This was too close to what almost happened - what if? No. That is what they want, they want you to doubt yourself. Just wait. Akari and Rafu, the real ones, will come.

"Please, let me help you." The doctor pleaded, a slightly desperate undertone to his voice now. I shook my head vehemently, turning it to the side so that I could avoid looking at him as I waited. "Look at me!"

"Go to hell." I muttered, staring straight ahead at the plain white wall in front of me until I gasped, feeling hands around my throat and constricting the airway. I scrambled against the restraints, trying to gulp air that wouldn't come as I was strangled. I twisted my body hard, desperately, and tried to scream but no noise would come out.

 _Release. Release._ I thought, desperate to escape the genjutsu as I felt myself slipping unconscious. _RELEASE!_

My eyes snapped open, back in the woods in the predawn light, laying against a thick limb of a great, big tree with the Iwa ninja's hands around my throat, squeezing the life out of me. I jerked ,twisting my hips, and kicked out with my left leg; It was only a glancing blow, but it was enough to loosen his grip for a second and I tore my fingers into his, trying to pry his hands off my throat so I could breathe. My vision was starting to fade, black was on the edges and everything was getting more and more narrow. I dug into his hands, I just needed a little air; my lungs were screaming with the lack of oxygen and I couldn't handle much more.

As sudden as I was snapped back into this world, I blinked and I could breath again, gasping in muggy, humid air as if it was fresh and crisp on an autumn morning. My throat ached from the fingers that had just been around it and I knew it would turn into nasty bruises, but hopefully Rafu could get rid of the worst of them. I opened my eyes once the world stopped spinning, still gasping a little and trying to get oxygen back into my system. I saw the Iwa ninja struggling as Akari had both of his arms and Rafu punched him in the face, getting ready to knock him out.

"Wait." I said, my voice throbbing with pain and more hoarse than it ever had been. Rafu stopped but Akari kept holding the Iwa ninja, both of them looking at me with anger in their eyes, looking at the bruises that were no doubt dark on my pale neck. I stalked slowly up to the Iwa ninja, my eyes never leaving his, and I know he could feel my killing intent because he started thrashing against Akari, desperately trying to escape her grip. I walked calmly up to the bastard and grabbed his head before jerking it to one side and then the other, snapping his neck easily and letting him fall limp.

I collapsed for a moment and drew in a ragged breath, my eyes watering in pain as I remembered the asylum I had almost been sent to as a child and the feeling of being strangled. Letting out one half sob, I felt Rafu and Akari wrap me up in their arms for a moment. I bathed in their arms only for a moment, taking in the comfort and familiar smells, before shaking them off and silently going through the Iwa ninja's clothes and picking up the scroll that was tucked away in his backpack. I held it up for them both to see, smiling grimly in satisfaction, before dropping down to the floor where our camp had been torn apart by the fight. We quickly packed our stuff up and left the site just as the sun rose enough to begin warming the air and yellow light was filtering through the canopy above to the forest floor.

I was ready to get the hell out of this forest.

 **A/N: A little intense there, right? Review or send me a PM and let me know what you thought!**

 **Much love,**

 **~Rache**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

We trudged along in silence for a long time. I took the lead and could feel Akari and Rafu both burning a hole in the back of my skull with their concerned looks. If I was being honest, the Iwa ninja had shaken me; I had never felt a genjutsu that was so intense and I still did not understand how he had known about the Asylum I had almost been put into as a child. I knew I had reacted poorly when I snapped his neck, but I was consumed by rage at that point. After journeying for most of the day, I knew we should be close to the tower. After resting tonight, we could be there by tomorrow; we probably could have made it today in only a few hours but we had taken it slowly and cautiously. I heard a river nearby and so veered towards it, knowing we needed to get a little more water just in case we had to take the long way to avoid another team. We stopped and filled the canteens up with water, no words had been exchanged between us since we had left earlier in the day, and so I was surprised when Rafu spoke up.

"Ren.." Rafu said, trailing off uncertainly

"What?" I asked, sounding far more harsh than I had intended. I sighed, rolling my shoulder, before turning to face him and asking again in a kinder tone.

"Let me heal you." Rafu almost demanded, gripping my shoulder tight. "Please."

"I'm fine." I said, shaking him off and stepping a little bit away. A moment later, Akari appeared in front of me to prevent me from going any further.

"That isn't the point." Akari said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest. "What happened back there?"

"I'll let you heal me, if you want." I told Rafu, my eyes never leaving Akari's as I spoke. Rafu's hands lit up with the green glow of medical chakra instantly. He slowly began to run the his chakra infused hand along my throat, repairing the damage done to it earlier, and I could feel as my throat warmed. The sensation was like tiny pins and needles, similar to when a limb falls asleep and you are trying to wake it up. I looked back at Akari when I noticed my eyes had drifted to watch Rafu as he worked, and her eyes had never left my face. "We need to stay focused. Don't worry about me, I just.. I can't talk about it now. Not in this forest."

"Don't speak." Rafu murmured, running his hand along the column of my throat and I wanted to groan as the sensation went away at the base of my throat. His face was set into one of intense concentration, it was not easy to repair the throat because of all the vocal cords, so I settled for staying silent as he worked.

"You are safe." Akari said gently, patting me on the shoulder. My jaw clenched, holding back any emotion like we were taught in the academy, and I nodded sharply to let her know I had heard her loud and clear. Rafu finally stepped away after a moment, wiping the perspiration from his face, and gave a satisfied nod at my appearance.

"It's not completely gone, but it doesn't look like a boa constrictor wrapped around your neck and tried to strangle you anymore, so it will have to do." Rafu said smiling thinly, trying for a light hearted joke but falling flat.

"Let's just rest and then get to the tower." I said, huffing out a breath. The other two nodded and began to unpack their bedrolls. I started to do the same, but stopped and said Rafu's name. When he looked at me, I gave the warmest smile I could muster. "Thank you. It feels a lot better."

"Anytime." Rafu replied, his eyes lighting up just a little bit. We all settled down for the night, taking turns keeping watch once again, and thankfully nothing out of the ordinary happened his time. When morning came, we let out a collective breath as the anticipation the night had brought was released. I felt better after getting a little bit of sleep and knowing we would be getting out of the forest today. When we were all packed up, we took off with renewed vigor. After only a couple of minutes traveling, something felt off in the air; there was a clearing ahead and something didn't feel right about it. I looked at Rafu and could tell he felt the same as I did.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Rafu said darkly, on high alert with his head swiveling.

"Me too, but I think this is the fastest way." I responded lowly, and as a unit we stopped at the edge of the clearing. It looked peaceful enough and at first I wasn't sure what felt so off about it - until I noticed the bodies.

"Are those Genin from Kusagakure?" Akari asked, bewildered

"Judging from the hitai-ites, I would so so." Rafu surmised, glancing around the clearing to see if there were any signs of a trap. I switched on my dojutsu briefly so I did not use much chakra, looking to see if there would be any trouble if we went to check out the bodies for ourselves to see if they were alive or dead.

 _Sunlight was more bright in the clearing than any other part of the forest we had been in so far, and it did not feel so gloomy from this vantage point. I watched as Akari kicked one of the bodies gently, flipping it over with her feet, and as Rafu bent down to inspect one of them. He put two of his fingers against their neck to check for a pulse point, looking back up at me, and in a confused voice announced they were dead._

"It should be safe." I said quietly, creeping forward "Let's check out the bodies."

"Maybe we should just leave?" Akari said, clearly having reservations about going into a space so open like that one.

"Something isn't right about this and I want to find out what's bugging me so much." I responded, walking towards them with controlled movements.

"You're curiosity is going to get us killed." Akari told me in a flat tone of voice

"You don't have to come." I replied, scanning the trees around us constantly for any sign of movement or a trap.

"As if." Akari huffed, and I smiled inwardly as I felt her moving along just slightly behind me. I could always count on her, and Rafu as well, to have my back; no matter how stupid of an idea it might seem to be.

As we approached the bodies, I stopped a little ways off and my teammates moved forward just like in the vision. Akari rolled one of the bodies over and Rafu felt for a pulse. Rafu looked up from where he was knelt next to the shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Grass.

"He's dead." Rafu said, obviously perplexed, before going to the other body and confirming that he was also deceased. "What the heck happened here, I wonder?"

"This is strange." I muttered, my eyes roving the clearing and evaluating everything within sight to see if their were any clues as to what might have happened. There was no evidence of a battle at all; No damage to the grass, none of the bark in the tree's were messed up. It was as though they had just dropped dead on the spot.

"If you think that is strange, look at this." Akari declared, straightening up from where she had been diggin in the robes of one of the fallen shinobi. In her hand was an earth scroll, undamaged and seeing it put me on edge instantly.

"Who would kill them and not take their scroll?" Rafu asked, bewilderment and uncertainty thick in his voice. His eyes were almost nervously darting around the edges of the clearing now, his hand straying to the weapons pouch strapped to his right upper thigh.

"Someone who is here for another reason than taking the exam." I said, speaking so low they must have had to strain their hearing to make it out. My mind was racing as I thought of the possible scenarios that would fit the scene in front of us.

"Where is the third body?" Akari asked, looking around as though it would pop out at us any second.

"Teams of three." I muttered, cocking my head to the side in the way that I normally do when I was thinking hard about something. "I can think of three scenarios: One, whoever killed these two was after the third shinobi in their group and took them alive. Two, the third shinobi got away and is either still running or was chased down and killed somewhere else in the forest."

"And the third option?" Rafu asked, trepidation clearly written on his face.

"The third member from Kusagakure killed these two and left them to rot in order to complete another mission they viewed as more important." I told them, pausing for a moment as I let what I had said sink in. Who would kill their own comrades like this though? "Out of the three, I honestly think the third option is most likely despite how despicable it is."

"Why do you say that?" Akari asked, a frown tugging at the corner of her lips as she observed the bodies in front of us.

"Hardly any defensive wounds on the bodies and lack of evidence that a fight took place." I said, pointing to the fallen shinobi and gesturing around the clearing we were standing in. "They were taken by surprise, most likely from behind, which could be an indication of an ally turning into a hostile."

"That could be right." Rafu concurred thoughtfully "The one on the left has no defensive wounds at all and there are only a minimal amount on the body to the right. The left was killed first, and the second was taken out right after with very little effort. I find it hard to believe any shinobi would walk into an open clearing like this relaxed enough to get that surprised, so an ally would make sense."

"We should take the scroll and leave." Akari said, shifting uncomfortably.

"What is wrong?" I asked, frowning at the sudden display

"You were from Kusagakure originally, weren't you?" Akari asked quietly, looking around for anyone lurking in the foliage. "What if you were the mission? Because of your eyes?"

"Impossible." I dismissed almost instantaneously, causing Akari to puff up in indignation before I explained. "No one, as far as I know, knew Rin Nohara took me from that bridge except another member of her team who is a leaf Jonin. No one knows about my eyes except you two, Takeshi-sensei, and the Hokage himself. No, if there was another mission, it was more important that me."

"I still agree we should leave." Rafu chimed in, looking between the two of us as Akari calmed down. "We should get to the tower and report what we suspect to Anko-sama. She can do something."

"Alright." I agreed easily, grabbing the scroll and sticking the spare in my bag with the other Earth scroll. On second thought, I threw Akari the spare so that we would each have one to keep. It was always great to have a decoy. "Let's head out."

The three of us sprang out of the clearing, flying through the tree's once again as we hopped from branch to branch. After another hour or so of travel, Akari climbed to the top of a tree and said she saw the tower. We dropped to a lower level of branches and quietly made our way there, more wary of traps now than ever before. It was only a moment or so later that Rafu signalled he felt three chakra signatures nearby. Looking at them both, I held up my fist in a silent command for us to stop. We huddled together on a branch as we discussed what we should do.

"I want to take a look, see if it is a threat." I said, looking at the other two and waiting for the inevitable protest.

"Why?" Akari said, clearly frustrated "We are almost home free. Let's just take the long way."

"What if we run into a trap by going the long way?" I countered, raising an eyebrow. "Look, you two stay here; I'll go check it out. If I'm not back in ten minutes, come get me."

"I don't like it." Akari said, shaking her head and looking to Rafu. "Tell him he's being stupid."

"It's not like they can really catch him in a trap." Rafu said, shrugging apologetically at Akari when she shot him an outraged look. "His eyes see almost everything. Besides, he can hold his own for ten minutes and we'll be right here. Worst comes to worst, they won't expect back up to come so soon and he could always just give them the extra scroll if that is all they want."

"Whatever." Akari grumbled, she always hated when she had been out voted. Grinning a little, I jumped from the tree and towards the lower branches so I could get closer to the three. Rafu pointed me in the right direction and I crept along slowly, wondering what was waiting for me on the other side. After only a couple of minutes, I began to hear voices talking between themselves.

"We used a lot of chakra stepping in and helping them." An oddly familiar voice complained, and I heard something else that sounded suspiciously like the crinkling of a bag of potato chips.

"Well, we just need to rest and wait for Ino to wake up now." Another younger boy's voice replied, and he was clearly eating as he spoke, most likely the aforementioned potato chips if the crunching sound was as distinctive as I thought.

"This test is such a drag." the first voice said, raspy and still young. That's when I remembered when I had heard that voice before and I smirked to myself, shaking my head. This kid was everywhere lately.

"We still have over two days, Shikamaru." The second voice said, and as I parted the foliage in the tree I was hiding in, I could see the two boys sitting down with their blonde-haired teammate passed out between them. The heavy set boy was the one eating the chips, he had red swirls on both of his cheeks, and Nara Shikamaru had his chin resting on one of his hands in a bored position. "We'll find an earth scroll and get to the tower no problem."

"Maybe one will just fall from the sky." Shikamaru said, obviously being sarcastic. The mischievous side of me couldn't help myself, so without pausing to think over whether it was a good idea or not, I jumped down from the tree and landed in front of the two genin.

"Hey." I said cheerfully, smiling wider as I noticed how bad I startled them. They both quickly jumped up, blocking their partner from view, before taking up defensive positions in front of her. I held up my hands placatingly, half as a reassuring gesture and the other so they could see both of my hands. "I just want to talk."

"It's you." Shikamaru said, his dark brown eyes analyzing my appearance. I had to force myself not to wince when I saw them pause on my neck before going to my bow and weapons pouch. He was evaluating how dangerous I was, I realized.

"It's me." I agreed with my hands still in the air, suddenly feeling awkward. Why did I jump down here? "My name is Ren, if you don't remember."

"Nara Shikamaru." He responded, and I wanted to cheekily tell him I knew very well who he was, but figured that was a little forward. "This is Choji. What do you want to talk about?"

"What happened to your teammate?" I asked, my eyes flicking over to the girl they had called Ino, before locking back onto the dark brown eyes boring into mine. His eyes were hard and analytical now, whereas before during the exam they had been half-lidded as though he was on the verge of sleeping. The change honestly astounded me, I found it interesting.

"Chakra exhaustion." Choji said, looking between the Nara boy and myself curiously. "You know him Shikamaru?"

"Yeah. We sat next to each other during the first exam." Shikamaru explained

"Oh! Is that the guy Ino called.." Choji had started to say, but Shikamaru quickly covered his mouth. His cheeks had both turned red again and he shot Choji a death glare before nodding his head once.

"So what do you want?" Shikamaru said again, ignoring the blush on his cheeks. I grinned at him, wondering what his friend had called me that made him blush like that.

"I can't stop and talk to a cute guy in the middle of the woods?" I teased, flirting a little. It was my turn to be confused when I heard Choji sputter and almost choke on laughter and I saw Shikamaru's eyes widen in shock, the flush creeping up the back of his neck now. He cocked his hip to one side, one hand on said hip and the other on the back of his neck.

"How troublesome.." Shikamaru muttered, looking upwards at the tree. Feeling awkward again, I had never really attempted to flirt with someone and so it honestly felt like I was doing a bad job, I thought about the conversation I had overheard.

"Look, I overheard you guys talking and I think I can help." I told them, smiling uncertainly. "You're looking for an earth scroll, right?"

"Yeah." Choji said, looking at me in near amazement.

"I have an extra one." I said nonchalantly, grabbing it from my bag and showing it to them. "I'll let you guys have it."

"Why?" Shikamaru asked suspiciously, eyes narrowed at me.

"Because it won't do me any good, and the more of our shinobi in the last part of the exam, all the better for our village, right?" I said, my smile slowly fading as they both kept staring at me suspiciously. I knew they probably wouldn't take it outright, so I needed to make them earn it somehow. So I said the first thing that came to my mind. "If you can answer two of my riddles correctly, it's all yours."

"That's it?" Choji gaped, grinning a little

"That's it." I agreed, looking at Shikamaru. "What do you say? It's not like you have anything to lose."

"Alright. Let's hear the first one." Shikamaru responded in his raspy drawl, one hand still planted firmly on his hip as his eyes bored into mine as though he could read me like a book.

"You can see me in water, but I never get wet." I almost sang, cheerfully asking the next part. "What am I?"

The two boys thought it over for a minute. Shikamaru brought Choji close to him so they could basically whisper to one another without me overhearing them, and while they were doing that I wondered why Akari and Rafu had not shown up yet. By my estimation it had been about eleven minutes already, pretty strange.

"A reflection." Shikamaru answered, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. "Is that the best one you have?"

I laughed, glad he had gotten it right. I thought for a moment of another one that would take him a bit longer to figure out. "A little cocky, aren't we?"

Shikamaru shrugged, a bored expression on his face, but I could see the gleam of amusement and a little bit of interest in his eyes as he waited for the next riddle.

'So, I have your attention, do I?' I thought to myself, grinning inwardly at having amused the Nara boy. 'Oh kami, since when do I care if someone finds me interesting?'

"You will always find me in the past, I can be created in the present, but the future cannot taint me." I said, smirking a little at the allusion to the future. I couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle at the irony whenever something about the future came up; it might have been immature, but I didn't care. "What am I?"

There was another few moments of silence. Choji leaned against a tree, snacking on his chips, and Ino still had not moved since I had dropped from my tree. Both of the boys, I was pleased to see, had were more relaxed than they were when I first appeared. So they obviously weren't as worried it was a trick. That was when Shikamaru did something rather peculiar; he kneeled, with both knees bent and leaning back on his feet, and made a shape with his hands. All the points of his fingers were touching and at the top of the shape his thumbs touched to complete what was basically a circle. He closed his eyes as he though, and I watched his lips as he mouthed the words of the riddle one more time to himself. When I had first heard this riddle, it took me a solid twenty minutes of thinking to figure it out - and I enjoyed solving riddles on a regular basis. I smirked a little to myself, wondering how long it would take before he asked for a hint or if he would solve it o-

"History." Shikamaru said confidently, opening his eyes to meet mine. I was shocked and I could tell by the amused look on his face that he knew he had caught me off guard. It had taken him all of three or maybe four minutes to solve the damn thing, maybe less. Shaking my head and giving a low chuckle, I tossed the earth scroll over to him which he deftly caught.

"Nicely done." I congratulated, giving him an evaluating once over. "Looks like I might have underestimated you."

"I still don't understand why you did this." Shikamaru replied, holding the scroll under his arm after checking to make sure it was authentic. "But thanks anyway, you made this part of the test a lot less troublesome."

"Glad I could help." I said, winking at him again and flushing a little myself at my own antics. I really needed to learn how to control myself around this guy. "See you guys at the tower, I guess. I need to get back to my own teammates."

"See you there." Shikamaru said, nodding at me with his lips twitching but an unreadable expression on his face.

"Thanks again, Ren!" Choji said cheerfully, waving goodbye as I did the same. Without further comment, I jumped up into the trees and made my way back to where I had left Akari and Rafu. I was halfway there when they both appeared beside me, Akari grinning like a maniac.

"Now I know why you wanted to check." She said, giving me a pointed look.

"Oh shut it." I said, rolling my eyes and turning around so she couldn't see my redder than normal cheeks. "I didn't know it was them."

"That flirting was almost painful to watch." Akari told me, turning to the tower to head that way. "We are going to have to work on that later."

"Akari!" I said, exasperatedly throwing my hands up.

"I thought you did well." Rafu commented, a sly grin on his face. "Shikamaru seems quite intelligent as well."

"Yeah, he does." I admitted, thinking about it myself. Intelligence was extremely attractive to me; pairing that up with the boys tanned skin and raspy voice was almost unfair. I was definitely interested in getting to know him a little better than I did now, my interest was piqued now more than ever.

"I can't believe you gave him the scroll for answering two questions." Akari grumbled, rolling her eyes. "More competition for us later on, is what you provided."

"Oh come on, I thought it was sweet." Rafu jumped in, defending me to Akari.

"Of course you did." Akari replied "You would have just given it to them if they would have asked. How I got stuck with two of the sappiest shinobi in the land of fire I will never know."

"You love us." I reminded her, sticking out my tongue. I felt lighter than I had since entering this damned forest, and I was especially glad to see the tower doors only a few meters in front of us. Still keeping a cautious eye open until the end, we breathed out a collective sigh of relief as we approached the doors and then took both of the scrolls out. We looked at one another to confirm we were ready, before pushing the doors to the tower open and finally stepping inside.

 **A/N: Review please! I was too lazy to find out if it was really an earth scroll Team 10 had needed or if it had been mentioned, so I just winged that part. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Thank you Sarahgri99 for your wonderful and flattering reviews: ShikaRen is something I want to happen so bad, as you can tell. It will be awhile before it's official or anything, and there will be a few surprises and hurdles for them before they can get together! :)**

 **Thank you Amikotsu for the review: I know! You get to know more about why that was such a bad experience for him a little later on in the chapter, but it was pretty traumatizing and really intense to write.**

 **Thank you Shis23 for being the first, beautiful person to review: I love Shikamaru as a character. He's intelligent but lazy, loyal, and I think just overall adorable. Hopefully you like Ren as a character and think they will be good together! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

We stepped through the doors in a triangular formation. Not one of us was naive enough to assume we were out of danger just yet just because we had stepped through the doors of our destination, so we were on guard as we crept through the wide hall. It had a high ceiling and was completely bare except for two large tablets on the far wall that had some writing on them.

"If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom and knowledge to take your mind higher." I read out loud as we drew closer "If Earthly qualities are what you lack, then train your body in fields and prepare to attack."

"When heaven and Earth are opened together, that path of peril will revert to the righteous path forever." Rafu continued, squinting a little as he stumbled over a word. "This 'something' is the secret way that guides us from this place today."

"So we open the scrolls now, right?" Akari asked, glancing between Rafu and I to ensure she had understood the meaning correctly.

"I would say so." Rafu said slowly, and I hummed in agreement. Akari got the earth scroll she had been carry and Rafu did the same for the heaven scroll we had given him at the beginning of the exam. They both slowly unraveled their respective scrolls cautiously, Anko-sama's warning still echoing within all of our minds of the perils of opening the scrolls and the consequences of doing so. As they were unrolled, I had only a moment to observe the markings in black ink before we all jumped back, Akari and Rafu tossing the scrolls away quickly.

"Get ready, it's a summoning jutsu." Rafu called out, and we fanned out to surround the two scrolls billowing smoke. The smoke was thick at first and I could see a distinctly humanoid shape within, and as it began to thin, I heard coughing come from inside of the smoke. I saw a hand gesturing back and forth in front of where the head would be, trying to clear the smoke away faster, and I relaxed a little, smirking. The smoke revealed Izumo standing there, a sheepish expression on his face and still coughing lightly.

"Congratulations! You've passed the second exam!" Izumo said, trying to smile and breathe properly at the same time. "The smoke thing must take some getting used too, huh?"

"What's going on, Izumo?" Akari demanded, rolling her eyes at the Chunins ridiculous behavior. "Do we have to fight you now?"

"As if." Izumo scoffed, looking mildly affronted before pointing behind himself towards the tablets we had just read. "I'm here to welcome you back from the forest and explain those. We Chunin get the 'honor'."

"Great, I am so tired." I said thankfully, promptly sitting down where I stood with my legs crossed and ignoring the judgemental looks my teammates and the older chunin shot me. Izumo wordlessly shook his head at me, and was going to open his mouth most likely to comment on my laziness, but I waved the comment off with my hand and spoke first. "Don't mind me, continue with the explanation."

"Whatever." Izumo muttered, clearing his throat and speaking up a little for the next part of his speech, which I'm sure he had practiced. "These are the wise words of the Lord Hokage; the meaning is pretty clear, but I'll explain it anyway. If your strength is your mind, you should train your body more; if you are physically strong, then you should study and meditate more to get a stronger mind. Only when you have a balance, when you work hard to compensate for your weaknesses, will you be an excellent and well-rounded shinobi."

"I understand, Izumo-san." Rafu said, nodding along with the chunin as he spoke. "And the blank space is for us?"

"Exactly!" Izumo said cheerfully, clapping his hands together. "Any questions? No? Perfect! Now, you guys go through those doors and wait for the others to arrive. Your sensei will be here with the others tomorrow to speak with you about the third part of the Chunin exam."

"We need to speak with Anko-sama." I told him, sitting up and taking the hand Akari was proffering to help me stand up completely. "It's about something we saw in the forest."

"What happened?" Izumo asked, mood switching from jovial to serious like the flip of a coin.

"We found two bodies in the forest, genin from Kusagakure, but we believe they may have been murdered by the third member of their team." Rafu explained, eyebrows furrowed.

"That is a rather serious accusation." Izumo said slowly, looking at us gravely. "Why do you think that?"

"The scroll was left untouched, so it was not to get that, and they didn't put up a fight at all." Akari told him, highlighting the evidence we had found to support our rather out there theory. "There was no third body."

"Even if another team killed the two, it's suspicious that they didn't take the scroll." I added in, and could tell that Izumo thought it was strange as well his facial expression.

"I will let Anko-sama know at once." Izumo said firmly, leaving no room for argument. "If she would like to speak with you about it, she will come get you or at the least send for you. Thank you for letting me know. Now, seriously, you guys look like you could use some rest. Go ahead inside, I'll take care of this."

"Thank you, Izumo." I said, the three of us then walked through the doors he had mentioned earlier and found a hall with various doors along it. The hall led to a large waiting room where everyone who had passed this part of the exam were waiting for everyone else to finish.

My eyes scanned the room, noting who had finished as well to see who we would be up against in the next part of the exam. Three sand genin, one of whom was the red haired shinobi who gave me bad feelings. He had a red mark on his forehead and his eyes were blank, as though he had no emotions. Beside him were a blonde-haired kunoichi with a giant war fan and another guy who had something wrapped up in cloth on his back, It looked like the thing wrapped up at hair sticking out of it? I was examining it, but I moved my gaze when the redhead noticed me watching them.

Three sound ninja had made it, they looked a little worse for wear from getting here though. One of them had is arm in a sling, as though it was broken; the girl seemed well enough and I couldn't tell with the other guy because he was completely wrapped in except an eye.

There were also three other genin from our own village, they looked like they were some of the rookies; I recognized one of them as Hinata Hyuuga, Neji's cousin, because of her eyes. The other was an Inuzuka, I could tell by the small dog laying on his head, and the third was an unassuming guy with sunglasses on.

We were the fourth group to walk in, and besides the faint bruising on my neck, we were relatively unharmed. Akari had a couple of scratches and Rafu looked a little beat up, but because of Rafu's ability with medical chakra, we looked better than most of the other teams. The only ones who did not appear as though they had fought at all were the three shinobi from the village hidden in the sand, which honestly just added to the bad feeling I got from the three of them. I decided to keep my distance from all of the people currently in the room, as they had spaced themselves away from one another as well, and I went to an unoccupied space between the sound ninja and the others from Konoha.

"I guess we wait for another day or so until the exams over." Rafu mused, taking a seat on a couch.

"I could use a rest." Akari said, plopping down as well.

"Yeah." I agreed quietly, still looking over the other ninja surrounding us. Over the next few hours a couple of other groups came in, one of them including Shikamaru Nara, and his teammates Choji and Ino. They went over to the other rookie genin, not without looking at over at us first though; Ino and Choji both looked over us, confusion and curiosity written all over their faces, and Shikamaru's face was unreadable. I was meditating with my eyes closed when they walked in, it wasn't until Akari nudged me and I opened my eyes that I had realized it. When my eyes met those inscrutable brown ones, he gave me a nod of acknowledgment, which I returned, before they walked over to the other rookies and began to have a conversation.

"Your boyfriend over there better not be telling them we are soft." Akari muttered, having seen the exchange and watched them as they walked over. She was currently on the floor stretching while Rafu was reading a book next to us. When Rafu had pulled the book from his bag, I had to fight hard to prevent from bursting out laughing; only Rafu would hear that we would be five days in a survival training mission as a test and think that he should pack a book along with everything else we would need.

"Shut up, Akari." I replied, closing my eyes again.

"Alright, alright." She replied, and I did not need to open my eyes to know she was rolling hers.

"One day, your eyes will get stuck like that." I told her quietly

"Okay, okaasan. I'll make sure to keep that in mind." responded Akari sarcastically

"You do that." I mumbled, restraining myself from retorting. I knew we were picking at each other because we were bored. Thankfully, it was not long after that we were told we could go to the rooms and go to sleep. The rooms were assigned by team, and they were completely bare of any furniture or decoration; so with a heavy sigh, mostly irritated at ourselves for thinking we actually might get a bed, we unrolled our sleeping pallets and slept.

The next day was the last day, and it was then that the rest of the teams filed in. There were twenty-four of us total and when the time came, we were bidden to file into a room and get into rows. At the head of the room were two giant stone arms forming a hand seal; there was a stage, where the Hokage was standing with our sensei's standing behind him. The chunin that had greeted us were lined up in a v formation with Anko-sama in the middle. On either side of the room, there were metal walkways that ran parallel to one another along the length of the room.

"Does anyone else think this looks like an arena?" Akari muttered under her breath as we walked in.

Coking my head to the side, I could see what she meant. There were stairs leading up to the walkways, so people could look down at what was going on in the floor below, and the stage was in front of us. I wondered what they could be up to as we all lined up.

"First of all, congratulations on completing the second exam." Anko-sama said, a microphone magnifying her voice so that is was easily heard. "Alright, now pay attention. Lord Hokage is going to explain the rules of the third exam to you. You better pay attention, Maggots! Lord Hokage, they are all yours."

"First, before I tell you what the third exam entails. I want to tell you the true purpose of these exams. Why do you think we hold these exams?" Lord Hokage said, after stepping forward to address us. "To test your abilities as ninja and to develop friendships between nations, for sure, but it's important you understand it's true meaning - The exams are, so to speak, they are the representation of the battle between allied nations."

The Hokage went ahead to explain how we all used to be nations at war and how they used to pick champions to go fight at a predetermined location. He explained that we were fighting for the pride of our nation in front of many guests, and that they came to see us fight; the strong nations will get flooded with jobs because they have strong shinobi and the weak will suffer from a lack because not many will want to hire them. Takeshi-sensei had explained all of this to us before, it's one of the reasons I was willing to give the scroll over to Shikamaru and Choji; the more representation our village has, the better it is for us as a village. No sense in unduly eliminating someone from the same village if it could be helped.

As the Hokage was about to tell us what exactly the third exam was, a Jounin from Konoha dropped down into a kneel in front of him and asked to speak. He declared himself Hayate Gekko, and he was going to be the proctor for our third exam. After the Hokage gave his permission, Hayate turned towards us to begin speaking. I frowned slightly to myself when I noticed the constant cough he had; I wonder if he was sick or if he always sounded like that? It did not sound very healthy.

"There's something I would like all of you to do before the third exam." Hayate started, interrupting himself with a coughing fit. "Uh, we have to have a preliminary exam before we move onto the real one."

"Preliminary?" Shikamaru burst out, looking pissed off. "Just what do you mean by that?"

"I'm sorry, Sensei excuse me." A pink-haired kunoichi said, interrupting politely. I believe her name was Sakura, she was on Kakashi-san's team with Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. "But I really don't see the point. Why can't we just move onto the third exam?"

"Uh, well you see, the first and second exam might have been too easy. The fact is, we never expected so many of you to still be here." Hayate admitted "According to the rules of the chunin exams, a preliminary round can be held at any stage to reduce the number of participants. It's just that, at this stage, we have to speed things up a bit. As Lord Hokage said, a lot of important guests will be watching and we can't afford to waste their time; they only came to see the best. If any of you feel you are not in top, physical condition, now's your chance to bow out. The preliminaries will start immediately."

"Come on! Right now?" shouted the Inuzuka boy

"We just finished surviving the last one." Ino complained, a heartbroken look on her face at not getting to rest anymore. We were all looking worse for wear, to be truthful, but at least we had slept for a night. "Don't we get a break?"

"What a drag." I heard Shikamaru complain, making my lips twitch as I fought a smile. Choji then wondered when they would be able to eat and I had the same problem; what was up with this team? I was interested to see them fight if they complained this much.

"Oh yeah, the winners will be chosen by one on one combat; if anyone does not feel up to it, please raise your hand." Hayate said, pausing and looking around the room.

Akari snorted quietly next to me, glancing at me as well "As if anyone would actually give up now. Who would come all this-"

"Okay, you got me. I'm out." A silver-haired boy with glasses said in a friendly voice. I frowned, looking him over; he was not the most battered out of us. I probably looked worse than he did; I mean, we were ninja for Kami's sake, fighting when we should give up was what we do. What was he playing at?

"Kabuto?" Naruto said, looking confused as Hayate gave him permission to step back. "Hold on a second, you can't quit! I don't get this, what's going on?"

"Oh Naruto, I'm sorry." Kabuto replied, looking back at the eccentric leaf genin. "My body is just too beat up. I can't hack it. I can't hear in my left ear after fighting the sound ninja"

Akari and I both looked at one another, then we looked to Rafu; He was already watching us, shaking his head slightly. He had noticed the same thing we had. That guy was barely hurt, he could fight if he wanted too. Something else was going on, no hearing or not. Kabuto started to leave and one of his teammates seemed to be fighting with him in hushed voices, grabbing his arm, but Kabuto jerked out of his grip and finally stepped away after waving one more time to Naruto.

After Hayate asked if anyone else would withdraw, and two other ninja from Kusagakure, we were told that the matches would begin. They used two machines to randomly decide who would face who in battle, while all of the others would watch from above. There were no rules, we would fight until death or someone conceded their loss. Hayate told us he would intervene if a match was hopeless, to save as many lives as possible. We all watched with baited breath as names scrolled on the machine, finally coming to a stop on Sasuke Uchiha and another leaf genin named Yoroi Akado. The rest of us filed onto the walkways to watch the fight as the two prepared.

We climbed the stairs, going onto one side with all of the other ninja from our village along with our sensei's. I watched Kakashi-sama as he stopped halfway on the walkway, and Takeshi-sensei kept walking past him. I stopped in front of Kakashi-sama while Akari and Rafu kept walking, shooting me curious looks that I waved off.

"Kakashi-sama." I bowed respectfully, a thin smile on my lips for the elusive copy ninja.

"Ren." Kakashi greeted, his eyes flicking down to the paint on my cheeks as they always did. It was his partner, Rin Nohara, who saved me and brought me back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. I wore the green paint, as she wore purple, to honor her memory much in the same way that Kakashi-sama did by naming me after her before giving me to the orphanage. It was my goal to serve and protect the village, even if it meant my life, in the same way that she did; I owed her and Kakashi-sama a lot, so I went out of my way to say hello to Kakashi every time I saw him. I think it may have made him a bit uncomfortable, but I felt it was something I had to do.

"I am glad your team has made it through the exams as far as they have." I told him

"Yes, they are full of surprises." Kakashi responded casually, although there was tension in his shoulders. "Your team has done well, I see."

"Yes, Takeshi-sensei is a wonderful teacher." I said, my eyes flicking over to him. I could feel Naruto and Sakura both looking at Kakashi and I with growing curiosity as they noticed the exchange, so I figured it was time for me to walk away and rejoin my team, who just so happened to be standing beside Asuma Sarutobi's. Sometimes I truly hated Akari for putting me in these situations, it was a testament to my patience that I did not murder her.

"I hope your pupil does well and wins his match." I said in parting, bowing once more before walking away. I heard Naruto loudly ask Kakashi how he knew me and why he had never mentioned me before.

I walked up to my other teammates and turned to watch the fight as it began. They both began by throwing ranged weapons but they quickly closed in on one another, fighting with taijutsu. Sasuke got the upperhand for a moment, pinning Yoroi to the ground, but something happened to Sasuke to make him curl up on the ground in pain. Yoroi then gripped his head tightly in one hand, and Sasuke looked as though he was struggling.

"He's draining his chakra." Rafu told us, a sympathetic look on his face as he watched the Uchiha's fight.

"Draining his chakra?" Akari repeated, horror struck. "How is he doing that?"

"I'm not sure." Rafu replied, shaking his head sadly. "It's not good though for Sasuke though."

"He'll still win!" Ino said, looking over at them with a frown. "Sasuke is the best, there's no way he can lose."

"He needs to get away from his hand." Shikamaru said, joining the conversation. "That's how he is stealing the chakra."

"Easier said than done." Asuma commented, just as Sasuke was finally released from the hold Yoroi had on him. The two went back at it once more and I could see Sasuke's mind racing as he tried to figure out a strategy. That was when Naruto started yelling at him, it almost sounded like jeering, and it seemed to snap Sasuke out of his head. He quickly dodged all of Yoroi's attacks before he moved so quickly it seemed he disappeared for a moment, He kicked Yoroi up in the air and then followed him up, their bodies parallel to one another. Sasuke released a barrage of hits on Yoroi then; a kick, a back hand, a punch, and then one last kick that slammed him into the ground. They both collapsed and the room was silent for a moment. Hayate went over to Yoroi to see, declared him unconscious, and Sasuke struggled to his feet. He was then declared the winner of his match. Kakashi-sama quickly moved down to help Sasuke up to his feet and they both walked out of the room, Kakashi-sama's shoulder just s tense as they had been earlier. My eyebrows rose, wondering what that was about, but shook off the thought as we prepared to see who would fight next.

"Next up to fight - Akari Hatori and Rafu Akiyama." Hayate announced, looking up at both of my friends. I looked to Takeshi-sensei in shock; I didn't think two teammates would have to fight. Can't they rechoose?

"What?" Akari asked numbly, looking to Takeshi-sensei as well. Takeshi had a wry smile on his face, one more of acceptance than any form of positive emotion. I looked between my friends and felt terrible; I have no idea what I would do in their position. The two of them went down to the arena, facing one another on each side. I could see the conflicted looks on their faces and wondered how the match would play out.

"I can't believe two teammates are going to fight.." Choji said, looking at me but speaking to Shikamaru. "Who do you think will win?"

"I don't know." Shikamaru said, never taking his eyes off of my two friends. "Who knows if they'll actually give it their all since they are teammates? I would forfeit."

"Get ready." Hayate announced, looking between Akari and Rafu. "Fight."

Rafu looked pained for a moment, glancing up at both of us for a moment, before looking at Akari with an apologetic look on his face. I sighed to myself, drawing Shikamaru and Choji's attention, because I knew what was going to happen now. Takeshi-sensei most likely did as well, but he kept his thoughts to himself as he watched on in silence.

"I surrender." Rafu said, raising one hand up and looking towards Hayate.

"No you don't." Akari practically growled, her usually attractive face screwing up in anger. She sprinted forward, her wildly curly hair swinging in its ponytail behind her, and did a roundhouse kick towards Rafu's face.

Rafu caught her foot and let it down, grabbing her in a hug and muttering something to her. She stopped fighting and pulled away, looking at Hayate Gekko and waiting for him to announce her as the winner by default. They both walked up the stairs again, neither of them saying anything to each other on the way up. I clapped them both on the shoulder, my face conveying sympathy for the hard situation, and I was surprised Choji spoke up.

"Why did you surrender?" He asked Rafu

Rafu, for his part, looked confused for a moment but he finally responded. "I knew she would win anyway, we have fought in the past often enough; this way, no one will be able to see what she is capable of, making her a wild card, and giving my teammate an advantage in the next stage."

"Oh, wow." Ino said, looking at her own teammates thoughtfully. "I never thought of it like that."

The next match was a short one, Shino Aburame vs Zaku Abumi, who was one of the sound ninja. Zaku was also the ninja with both arms in a sling; by the end of it, I wondered if he had been faking the entire time because he was able to move both arms before Shino won the fight. I must admit, the bugs that Shino guy had really creeped me out when they came out of his skin like that. I shivered, wondering what that must feel like, before pushing the thought out of my mind.

After they cleared the floor, Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno were up next. They started out fighting one another but they were both pulling their punches, neither of them trying to actually hurt the other one. It was honestly kind of pathetic, more like sparring than actually fighting, but I could not judge because I would most likely do the same if fighting someone I cared for as well. Shikamaru was the one who pointed it out to Naruto that they were not seriously fighting, making me roll my eyes and wonder how Naruto had gotten this far when he couldn't even tell when two people were really fighting. I was severely confused when Ino cut her hair and threw it at Sakura's feet, thinking she was being dramatic, but I hadn't given her enough credit. She had thrown a rope with her hair, securing Sakura so she could cast her jutsu on her.

"Mind Transfer Technique!" Ino said, and they both slumped over for a moment.

"Oh Kami." I uttered, my face flushing completely red and my fists tightened on the rail. My knuckles clenched the bar until they were white and I clenched my jaw. I was almost shaking in fury.

"What's wrong?" Akari asked with a frown, looking down at my hands and then to my flushed face. "Ren?"

I could see out of the corner of my eye Shikamaru look over in curiosity when Akari asked me that and I clenched my jaw harder, keeping absolutely silent and still, my eyes staring straight ahead and never leaving the fight between Ino and Sakura. Akari put a hand on my shoulder and I rolled it off without thinking. I could tell she was exchanging looks with Takeshi and Rafu but couldn't bring myself to care. The reason I was so angry was because I recognised the expression on Sakura's face. It was the same look on Shikamaru's when we first sat beside one another during the first exam, right before he had said that I was cute; He had gotten the same dazed expression that was on her face right now.

I looked over at Shikamaru slightly and he balked for a moment when his eyes met mine, my eyes glaring into his and my face was most likely showing how angry I felt at the moment because I couldn't control it. I had never felt more humiliated in my life, and right now? That was translating right into anger. I could tell you the exact second that he realised that I knew it had been Ino that had called me cute, that I knew he had never bothered to mention it and let me keep making a fool out of myself in front of him afterwards. I was angry at him, I was angry at Ino for not having the guts to tell me herself after the exam had ended, and I was angry at myself for even putting myself in the situation to begin with.

'How could I have been so stupid?' I thought, clenching the bar so tight I thought it would break.

"Ren, talk to me." Akari said, making me tear my eyes away from Shikamaru's own wide ones. "What's going on right now? I'm worried. What happened?"

"I've seen that technique before." I told her quietly, looking towards the center of the room even as Sakura and Ino knocked each other out, making them both lose.

"Where?" Akari asked, confused

"Ino used it on the first exam." I explained through gritted teeth, finally looking at Akari. "She exchanged minds with Shikamaru. She was the one who called me cute."

"Oh, kami." Akari said, surprise flickering on her face before she shot me a sympathetic look and grabbed my shoulder. "Oh Ren.."

"Stop." I told her quietly, refusing to look in Shikamaru's direction. "Not here."

"Okay." Akari said quietly, backing off and leaving me be.

Hayate stepped up and read the next names off the list, I had not even heard the machine begin to choose because of the pounding in my ears. It was my name that caused me to look up quickly. "Ren versus Madan Harada."

It was the one Kusagakure ninja who had not withdrawn when both of his teammates had. I looked over the other ninja; he had a nasty scar across one of his cheeks and he was significantly bigger than me. I wasn't intimidated but I knew it was to my advantage if I could end the match as quickly as possible. He looked strong, and with me not being at peak strength, it would not take too many hits for me to be out of commission. I walked towards the stairs so I could go down to where the fight would take place, not looking at Shikamaru at all and letting the burning anger turn into a cold fury.

"Wow, that guy is like twice his size." I heard Naruto comment, looking over at the Kusa ninja and speaking to Kakashi. "He could probably pick up that Ren guy with one hand!"

"Don't underestimate him." was Kakashi's glib response, and I tuned them out as I walked down to meet my opponent.

"Are you two ready?" Hayate asked us, receiving a nod in response. "Begin."

"I'm going to smack you around for awhile before I beat you senseless." the Shinobi from Kusagakure said, smiling sadistically at me. I didn't respond, instead moving my headband to cover my eyes so that I couldn't see with my normal vision. I heard the whispers start to break out as people asked if I was really covering my eyes and wondered how I was going to fight blind, wondering what they would think if they knew I saw more than most of them ever would.

"Too scared to look, little leaf?" I heard the grass ninja asked mockingly "Shaking in your tree?"

"I don't need to see to beat you." I said, smirking and activating my dojutsu "Are we going to talk or fight?"

I jumped, twisting my body in the air as I saw him throw two shuriken at me. I felt them whizz by me as I dodged them, but I was already watching him begin to charge me; next he would come in for a couple of punches before trying an earth release technique.

I blocked them as he struck, flipping backwards and avoiding the floor turning into mud. I grabbed an arrow from my quiver and loaded it in my bow while in air, firing down towards the kusagakure ninja, smirking as he caught it in his hand. I threw my bow onto my back and the arrow exploded in his hand; while he was distracted I did a sweeping kick, knocking him off his feet and threw a punch at him with as much force as I could towards his head. I felt the ground crack as I made contact with it, rolled to my side to avoid his uppercut, and then put my arms together to block his kick. I jumped up in the air to put some distance between us, but he grabbed my ankle and squeezed tight. I shouted out, cringing as I felt him twist my ankle.

'I need to finish this quick.' I thought, and felt the grass ninja throw me towards the wall. I let the momentum carry me and just before I hit, I turned to spread my weight evenly out and caught myself. I used my feet to push off the wall and put chakra into the push, speeding towards Madan quickly. He hadn't expected me to catch myself, just like I had seen, and so I kicked him in the jaw, lifting him into the air. I jumped after him, punching him in the ribs once and then again on his upper body, lifting him higher into the air. I did a front flip and brought my foot down straight into his stomach, driving him into the ground with a sickening crunch.

I stood up, leaning on my good leg more than the one the guy had almost crushed during the fight, and deactivated my dojutsu, lifting my headband to uncover my eyes. The room was silent and Hayate Gekko was checking to see if Madan was down for the count.

"The winner is Ren." Hayate said, looking me over carefully. I nodded and walked up towards my teammates, Akari cheering loudly and the other two proudly smiling at me.

"How did he fight that whole thing blind, Kakashi-sensei?" I heard Naruto ask, sounding dumbstruck. "He countered that guy's every move."

"Yeah, it was like he knew what the guy was going to do before he did it." Shikamaru said as well

"And he did it all blindfolded." Choji added, watching me as I walked past. I refused to look at any of them, focusing on Akari and Rafu waiting for me towards the end. My chakra was low, my foot hurt bad enough that it may be fractured, and I was still pretty mad about how humiliated I felt about the Shikamaru, Ino thing.

"Nice work." Akari said, clapping me on the back.

"Thanks." I mumbled, looking at Rafu with a pleading look and smiling when he gave me an indulgent look in return.

"Want me to look at your foot?" Rafu asked, already bending down

"Yes please." I replied, sighing heavily in relief as I sat down. Rafu's arm was already glowing green and my eyes started to close of their own accord.

'Huh, I guess I'm going to sleep.' I thought exhaustively, vision going black and slipping into sleep.

 **A/N: Well, another chapter! Please review and let me know what you think! Poor Ren ;( feeling so embarrassed!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So this is kind of like a filler chapter - I needed time to think about where I'm going with my story and a couple of other things, so I thought I would give you guys a sneak peek into Shikamaru's head in some of the scenes between himself and Ren. You can see the difference in how they react to one another - and hopefully I changed the writing enough for it to be a change of pace. If you guys like it, I might do this every now and then throughout the story to give a different perspective. Thanks! Enjoy!**

Chapter Six

' _This test is going to be such a drag.'_ Shikamaru thought, glancing around at all of the shinobi in the room as Naruto rambled on and on. Shikamaru was standing at the front of the room right before the first exam with the rest of the rookie nine, an odd place for a reunion, no doubt. Asuma had recommended Choji, Ino, and Shikamaru to do the exam and had let them know a few days before. Shikamaru's first thought was that it the whole thing would be too troublesome, but Ino had somehow convinced the Nara it would be a good idea anyway. After a confrontation between this guy Kabuto and a Oto-nin, Shikamaru walked over to the seat that matched the number he had given. There was already someone in the seat next to him, but Shikamaru barely spared them a glance, slouching in his seat and wishing he was at his favorite spot cloud watching and napping while Choji ate his barbeque chips. Yeah, that was the life - easy, no expectations, and no worries.

"I'm Ren." A quiet voice to his left said, causing Shikamaru to turn and face the boy sitting next to him. Shikamaru didn't recognise him, but that didn't mean much - Konoha could be pretty big sometimes, it was hard to know all the faces and Shikamaru honestly didn't try very hard to remember them. The leaf genin was pretty short, sitting primly in his seat, and had his dark hair pulled up into a top knot. There was a braid with some kind of feather interwoven that was hanging beside his headband, and he had a small smile on his face and was looking at Shikamaru expectantly.

"Nara Shikamaru." Shikamaru introduced himself, his lips twisting into a tiny smirk at the shorter guy next to him. The other leaf shinobi nodded before paying attention to Ibiki giving the rules at the front and Shikamaru listened quietly. When the test began, he looked back at Ino and raised an eyebrow; when she nodded, he put his head down on the desk and took a small nap.

After about fifteen minutes, Shikamaru glanced back at Ino and smirked again when he noticed her slumped over; she had already used the mind transfer jutsu to get the answers from Sakura. Great, that meant less work for Shikamaru. Glancing around the room, the Nara saw Ren suddenly writing down the answers to three of the questions; following where Ren kept taking tiny, barely noticeable looks, he saw a girl discreetly doing an odd combination of had signs behind her back. The leaf shinobi next to him saw Shikamaru observing the exchange of answers and gave a small, self-satisfied look at Shikamaru before looking pointedly down at the Nara's test.

' _If only he knew.'_ Shikamaru thought, lips twisting once again. It wasn't too long after that when Ino got into his head and began writing all of the answers down for him - being possessed was always a weird feeling, it was like being controlled by his shadows almost. You could see and hear what you were doing, but you had no control. That was why Shikamaru mentally face palmed when Ino called the guy sitting next to him cute - as if Shikamaru would ever really say that. Then the guy said it back, which Shikamaru honestly didn't know how to take. What a drag.

When Ino was done, he sent a glare at Ino and like the coward he was, just avoided the other ninja's looks until he could leave. It's not like they would be seeing much of each other anyway and hopefully he'd forget about the whole thing before he saw Shikamaru next.

* * *

' _Sasuke Uchiha, you are such a dick.'_ Shikamaru thought to himself as he and Choji carted Ino away from where there battle with the Sound ninja had just taken place - they hadn't even gotten a thank you for stepping in, risking their own necks when they didn't have to and while Uchiha and Naruto were asleep. _'What a pain.'_

When they had gotten far enough away, Shikamaru and Choji put Ino on the ground and the two relaxed for a moment, thinking of a new strategy and waiting for their teammate to wake up. Choji had just opened up a bag of chips to eat and Shikamaru was considering taking a nap.

"We used a lot of chakra stepping in to help them." the Nara complained to his friend, slouching a little more to get comfortable.

"Well, we just need to rest and wait for Ino to wake up." Choji said, munching on some chips thoughtfully.

"This test is such a drag." Shikamaru responded, and thinking to himself that he had known it would be more trouble than it was worth.

"We still have over two days, Shikamaru." the optimistic Akimichi sitting next to him said, looking around the area they had decided to rest in for the moment. Shikamaru had already catalogued every rock, branch, and leaf in the immediate area when they sat down. "We'll find an earth scroll and get to the tower, no problem."

"Maybe one will just fall from the sky." Shikamaru couldn't help but respond sarcastically

That was when something literally fell from the sky - or, at least, a tree. Shikamaru stood up instantly, getting into a defensive position in front of a defenseless Ino and knew Choji would be doing the same thing. When he looked at who was in front of him, Shikamaru wanted to groan in exasperation - of course it was the shinobi Ino had called cute while in HIS body. Just his luck to run into the guy while they were out in the forest.

Ren had his hands out in front of him, the universal symbol for not wanting any trouble, but they were shinobi - faking peace and then ambushing them or surprising them wasn't really an original idea. "Hey. I just want to talk."

"It's you." Shikamaru said, looking at the other genin carefully and assessing the threat he might pose. The guy looked like he had been through the ringer - his clothes were torn, he had bags under his eyes like he hadn't slept well, and there were bruises on his neck that looked distinctly like hands.

"It's me." Ren replied casually, his posture relaxed and open. "My name is Ren, if you don't remember."

"Nara Shikamaru." the Nara told him for the second time it two days, gesturing to his companion. "This is Choji. What do you want to talk about?"

"What happened to your teammate?" Ren asked instead, diverting Shikamaru's question - which made him narrow his eyes and study the genin a little more. What was he playing at?

"Chakra exhaustion." Choji replied, looking between Shikamaru and Ren curiously. "You know him Shikamaru?"

"Yeah." Shikamaru responded, not thinking about his next words carefully enough. "We sat next to each other in the first exam."

"Oh, that's the guy Ino.." Choji had started to say, but Shikamaru quickly put his hand over his friend's mouth to stop him from bringing up the embarrassing scene. Shikamaru could feel the flush on his face, proudly telling the world of his embarrassment, but he shook it off.

"So what do you want?" Shikamaru asked again, mostly to change the topic but also to get to his original point.

"I can't stop and talk to a cute guy in the middle of the woods?" was the blaise response from the other ninja, who was smirking a little. Shikamaru's eyes widened, not comprehending what he had said fully until Choji started laughing.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru sighed, looking up at the trees quickly while he rubbed the back of his neck, which he could feel was more warm than normal. He then thought of something and looked back at the other shinobi, forcibly relaxing his body to appear non-threatening.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes a little and forced himself not to get any more red than he was now - obviously, the shinobi was trying to fluster him by throwing what he thought were his own words back at him, but it wouldn't work.

"Look, I overheard you guys talking, and I think I can help." Ren said placatingly, a smile on his face. "You guys are looking for an earth scroll, right?"

Shikamaru thought about saying they needed a heaven just to throw the guy off - he might be fishing for what scroll they had before trying to take theirs but Choji beat him to it by answering his question truthfully.

"I have an extra one." Ren said casually, shifting his bag forward. "I'll let you guys have it."

"Why?" Shikamaru asked suspiciously, not believing he was doing it out of the kindness it his heart.

"Because it won't do me any good, and the more of our shinobi in the last part of the exam, all the better for our village, right?" was Ren's response and Shikamaru took a moment to consider this. They were raised with the belief that the village was the most important thing, so it kind of made sense in a warped way - it was why they stepped in for Sasuke's team, after all, but they actually knew them. This guy was a virtual stranger. "If you can answer two of my riddles correctly, it's all yours."

"That's it?" Choji asked, looking at Shikamaru in amazement.

"That's it." Ren agreed, looking at Shikamaru with raised brows. "What do you say? It's not like you have anything to lose."

"Alright." Shikamaru smirked, it must be his lucky day after all. This was exactly his wheelhouse; puzzles and games were exactly the kind of thing to capture the Nara's attention. "Let's hear the first one."

"You can see me in water, but I never get wet." Ren said cheerfully, asking the next part. "What am I?"

' _That was too easy.'_ Shikamaru thought, almost a little disappointed.

"A reflection. Is that the best you've got?" Shikamaru asked the other leaf genin, his tone smug.

"A little cocky, aren't we?" Ren asked with a laugh, looking at Shikamaru with those dark grey orbs that reminded Shikamaru of clouds right before a storm. Shikamaru shrugged in response, careful to keep his expression neutral, but he was amused that someone could be so cheerful and willing to have a small battle of wits in the middle of somewhere called the Forest of Death, especially when they looked as exhausted as Ren did at that moment.

"You will always find me in the past, I can be created in the present, but the future cannot taint me." Ren said, letting out a chuckle as though he was sharing some inside joke. "What am I?"

' _This one is harder.'_ Shikamaru thought, thinking over the words. When the answer wasn't immediate, Shikamaru joined his thumb and fingers and sat back on his heels, crouching for a moment and closing his eyes as he mouthed the words to himself. After he repeated it the third time, Shikamaru had to fight not to grin - of course, it was so obvious.

"History." Shikamaru said, confidant in his answer. He opened his eyes and caught the earth scroll Ren plucked out of his bag and tossed over to Shikamaru.

"Nicely done." Ren praised me, smiling while his eyes drifted over me. "Looks like I underestimated you."

"I still don't understand why you are doing this." Shikamaru said, holding the scroll under one arm and evaluating the puzzle that was in the shape of the leaf genin in front of him. "But thanks anyway, you made this part of the test a lot less troublesome."

"Glad I could help." Ren replied, winking at Shikamaru and then ducking his head a little as his cheeks flushed red. "See you guys at the tower, I need to get back to my own teammates."

"See you there." Shikamaru said, nodding.

"Thanks again, Ren!" Choji said cheerfully, waving at the guy as he jumped back into the tree's and made his way back to wherever his teammates were.

"Well, that was unexpected." Shikamaru said, shaking his head a little at the unbelievable luck.

"Was he flirting with you?" Choji asked, putting a few more chips in his mouth as he chewed thoughtfully.

"Aw, come on Choji." Shikamaru complained, rubbing his neck. "Gimme a break."

"I don't know, Shikamaru." Choji said doubtfully, a frown on his face. That was when Ino started to wake up and the two forgot about the conversation for now. They couldn't wait to see Ino's face when she wakes up and finds out they got an earth scroll - let alone when they tell her how. Shikamaru couldn't help but think about Ren though and the way he was acting before.

' _Was he trying to flirt with me?'_ Shikamaru thought curiously, before clearing his head and focusing on the task at hand. _'How troublesome.'_

 **A/N: Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"This is getting ridiculous." Akari complained, her words making my back vibrate. The three of us were meditating, back to back, in a triangle. Well, Rafu and I were meditating - Akari was more complaining than anything else.

"It's only until after the third exam." I responded calmly, my eyes closed and my breathing controlled.

"He was actually thinking about making it permanent, just more infrequent to catch us off guard." Rafu commented dryly

I sighed, I had heard him say that as well but I was hoping to get Akari to not complain so much for now. Takeshi had decided to improve our training regime - which turned it into a twenty four hour schedule. For example, I was sleeping a few nights ago and Takeshi broke into my apartment, knocked me over the head to make sure I wouldn't wake up, and then tied me to a chair in some weird, abandoned house. I still had an uneasy feeling about the whole thing but Takeshi-sensei said it might save our lives one day.

 _I opened my eyes groggily, wondering why the hell my head hurt so bad, and when they focused I realised I wasn't in my apartment anymore. I was in a dusty room, it looked like it had been awhile since someone had used it, and when I tried to wiggle my arms and legs I found them tied down._

' _Okay, don't freak out.' I thought to myself, looking around to see if their was anything useful laying around. First thing was first, I needed to get at least my arms free if I was going to have any chance of getting out of here alive. Obviously, someone had kidnapped me - I wasn't sure why, but it might've been another person who was in the tournament. I was up against Kankuro from the sand village so it might've been him, although I'm not sure what he would have to gain from it. I activated my dojutsu, checking the future to see if anyone would be coming soon, and bit down on my lip to stifle the groan of pain I let out. Alright, don't do that again. It must be some kind of chakra suppression - maybe a poison or a seal on the room maybe._

" _Ah, so you're finally awake." a disembodied voice I didn't recognize filled the room, making me tense automatically before I relaxed. I was being monitored._

" _Yeah, do you have any water?" I asked dryly, trying to scan the room for the camera and keep the guy talking to find out as much as I could. "I'm a little parched."_

" _So brave." The voice almost cooed in a sickeningly sweet voice, before it turned malicious. "I wonder if your friends are as brave as you are."_

" _If you knew them, you'd know they are." I responded, and my eyes narrowed at a crate sitting in the corner. There was a cloth positioned slightly oddly on top, I couldn't see inside the gap because of the shadow the cloth was casting, but I'd be willing to bet that was where the camera was._

" _Well, why don't we see?" The smug voice said, and my head jerked as a panel moved in the room to reveal two monitors - both of them were viewing rooms just like this one, but one had Akari in it and the other had Rafu, both tied up in a chair like me. Rafu's had someone inside of it, and I could tell they had been torturing him; he was bleeding in a couple of places, it looked like his nose had been broken, and one of his eyes were swollen shut._

' _Don't let him know he's getting to you. Shinobi show no emotion.' I thought to myself, steeling my resolve._

" _What do you want?" I asked, looking directly at the camera as I spoke with as much steel in my voice as I could muster._

" _Why, I want those eyes of yours." The voice replied triumphantly_

" _Oh yeah?" I asked, more bravado in my voice than I actually felt. "Then come in here and get them."_

" _Oh, I will in time." The voice said "but first.. I want you to know how serious I am. So I think I'll kill the boy."_

" _If you kill him, I'll kill you." I replied heatedly, and I winced when my voice shook. The voice didn't say anything and I focused on the screen in front of me, watching as the guy in the room with Rafu looked at the camera and waved - I could see he was saying something, but there was no audio. The guy drew a small sword and went around behind Rafu, positioning the blade at his throat and I started struggling against the bindings, thinking fast of how I could get out of this fucking room._

" _Please!" I called out, desperate to buy time or stop him from killing Rafu. "Please, you want me - you can let them go, I'll cooperate. I'll give you the eyes, whatever you want - let them go."_

" _I don't believe you." The voice replied menacingly, and I watched in horror as the man cut Rafu's throat without any hesitation. I bit back my tears, refusing to let them fall as I saw the blood spill from his throat. "Now, I think I'll introduce myself the the little girl next - Akari, was it?"_

" _Don't you touch her." I snarled. I needed to get out of here and get to Akari, I'd have to worry about Rafu first. Oh, god, Rafu.._

 _I struggled against the ropes again. They barely moved, I was tied too tight - the wooden chair moved more than the ropes did whenever I tried to wiggle my body and loosen the ropes. Wait, wooden chair?_

 _I rocked myself forward, and then backwards, over and over until I could feel the chair start to teeter on it's hind legs. I pushed back with everything I had and finally felt the chair, and me with it, begin to fall backwards. The chair broke on impact from the force and I lifted my arms up - the ropes had been tied to the chair, instead of me, so when the chair broke the ropes were not tight anymore. I slid them right off and glanced around the room, picked up a piece of wood with a rusty nail sticking out of it, and bashed the camera in the room quickly. I looked at the monitor one more time, seeing that Akari hadn't moved, and then went to the door and cautiously opened it. The hallway seemed clear, mine was the only door, so I cautiously crept along the hall until I came to a corner. I peeked around it, saw a man standing with his back to me, and I snuck towards him - hoping for the element of surprise. When I was about ten feet away, his head started to turn, so I closed the gap between us in one leap and swung the board in my hands down onto the base of his skull with everything I had._

 _The man disappeared. I looked around, confused, and then I heard clapping. I looked down the hall I had come from and saw Takeshi sensei, he was the one clapping, and I looked at him confused before I started telling him what had happened._

" _I know, Ren. I know." Takeshi said, sympathy in his eyes. "I'm sorry I had to do this, but there may come a day when you are in this exact kind of situation - you let the guy be in control too long. You did well, getting out of the chair and getting here, which would have been Akari's room, but if you hadn't been there watching - who knows if he would have killed Rafu."_

" _So, this was.." I asked, confused, emotional. "This was a test?"_

" _Yes, Ren. Rafu and Akari are fine, they are probably asleep right now." Takeshi explained "I'm sorry, Ren. I know it must've been a hard lesson - but sometimes, I have to teach you the hard lesson to prepare you for the life ahead of you."_

" _I.. I understand, sensei." I said, my voice wavering in relief at finding out Akari and Rafu were fine and exhaustion as the adrenaline left my body._

"The man is sick." Akari said, and I didn't need to open my eyes to see her rolling her own. "Although, I am getting way more vigilant - honestly, I feel like I could be attacked any second."

"It's almost sad that what you just described is a good thing among shinobi." I mused out loud as I felt the sun come out from behind a cloud and warm my face.

"Ugh, I can't do this anymore. Can we please go eat?" Akari basically whined, although it was mostly in jest - she didn't mind sitting still or quiet as long as there was a reason, but the kunoichi did not have the patience for meditation at all.

"Yeah, alright." Rafu replied, getting up and stretching his limbs out. I sighed, getting up as well, and the three of us made our way towards a restaurant in town from our spot by a big tree on a hill just on the outskirts. It was a place we had gone too for awhile, even though it was out of the way, because no one else really came here and it was peaceful with a nice view. A perfect place to scheme, relax, or study together. Shaking my head at my two best friends, I jogged a second to catch up with them and threw my arms around their shoulders - as long as I had these two, I could take on anything the world threw at me.

* * *

We walked into the restaurant and sat down, ordering some food and tea, and talking amongst ourselves as we waited for the food to arrive. Rafu and I were discussing chakra theory, more specifically about a chapter I had read in a book last night, when I heard Akari groan in exasperation under her breath. I started to turn to her but she grabbed my face and pushed, keeping it turned towards Rafu.

"Akari." I deadpanned, her hand squishing my face uncomfortably. Rafu looked at us both, shaking his head in amusement.

"Yes?" She answered cheerfully, before thinking better of it. "What were you guys talking about just now?"

"Akari. Why are you pushing my face?" I asked her, trying to turn it which only made her increase the pressure.

"Well, because you were going to look over here and I spilled something on my shirt and I'm embarrassed." Akari responded nervously, in her lying voice.

"Akari, I've seen you looking worse." I assured her, gripping her wrist and lowering her hand from my face before turning to look at her. "What are you really doing?"

"Nothing." She muttered unconvincingly, glancing to her left unconsciously slightly before correcting herself and looking at me instead. I looked in the direction she was and rolled my eyes: sitting there was Team Ten. Shikamaru, Ino, Choji and their sensei, Asuma Sarutobi.

"Is it because of them?" I asked exasperatedly, looking in their direction pointedly for only a moment before returning to my friend's face. "I told you; it was a miscommunication. Yes, that bastard should have told me that it wasn't him that had said that to me. It's in the past and I'm perfectly comfortable ignoring them."

"That's not really healthy.." Rafu said, but quieted when I glared at him. "Totally reasonable though. Very kind of you, even. Yeah."

"So can we please go back to enjoying ourselves now?" I asked the two of them, glancing between them. "Takeshi-sensei will probably run us into the ground later today during training, so let's have some fun."

"Yeah, alright." Akari agreed, smiling tentatively. The two had been walking on eggshells about the whole thing ever since it happened. I admit, I over reacted a little bit, but it had been the first time, most likely the last now, that I had put myself out there and I felt humiliated. Maybe it wasn't totally the guy's fault, maybe he wasn't actually a bastard; but I felt rejected and upset, so I vented. I'm not perfect. I'm perfectly happy pretending the entire thing didn't happen and moving on with my life, there were way more important things to worry about then some guy I thought was cute when I sat next to him in the exam.

"Uh, Ren." Rafu said, looking at me with a weird expression on his face. "Remember the meditation we just did?"

"Yeah.." I responded, raising an eyebrow at him and clearly giving him a look that said 'are-you-stupid?'

"Well, remember that calm. Before you say anything, count to ten and remember the calm, okay?" Rafu was saying, speaking more quickly as he went.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused

"They are coming over here." Akari said, murmuring the last part most likely so they couldn't hear it. I tensed automatically before I forced myself to relax. _One. Two. Three._

"Hey.." a distinctly female voice said, sounding kind of nervous. The three of us turned to look at them: Ino, her hands behind her back and a hesitant expression on her face, Choji standing to her left, and Shikamaru on her right, a bored expression on his face and one hand in his pocket.

"How can we help you?" Rafu asked, ever the polite one out of the three of us.

"Well, I just wanted to say thanks." Ino said, looking at me. I was looking at her, pointedly not looking at Shikamaru because I would probably throw something to get him to wipe that bored expression off of his face. Petulant bastard. "Y'know, for the scroll during the second exam. It was really nice of you and I wanted to thank you for it."

"You're welcome." I replied, my tone crisp. _Four. Five. Six._ "Like I told them, it was for the benefit of the village. I would have done it for any other leaf shinobi."

"Oh, okay." Ino replied, smiling a little. "Well, thanks anyway."

Ino started to turn away but Choji coughed a little, looking at Shikamaru, who in turn looked at Ino meaningfully. Ino turned back around and this time was looking at the floor, shifting a little in her spot. "Uh, I also wanted to say sorry."

"Okay." I replied, really hoping this was not going where I thought it was. Akari looked at me and then at Shikamaru a little disbelievingly.

"Y'know, for calling you cute during the exam. When you didn't know it was me." Ino finally finished, eyes still not looking at mine. I looked between her and Shikamaru, who was now looking at me with a satisfied expression on his face. As though he had just done me a favor. I clenched my hands under the table, forcing a smile on my face. _Seven. Eight._

"I appreciate your honesty." I replied "and your apology is accepted."

"Oh, great." Ino said, like she didn't really believe me. "So you aren't angry?"

"No, not with you." I told her honestly

Akari was looking at Shikamaru pointedly, as though waiting for him to apologize, but he just stood there looking at me with narrowed eyes, as though he couldn't figure out what was going on in my head. Was it seriously asking a lot for an apology? I would honestly feel a lot better if he said it. Even if he said he just hadn't realised I was flirting or that he didn't know how to react; anything but that bored expression on his face with those half lidded eyes.

"Are you mad at me?" Shikamaru asked, voice as raspy as I remembered it. It sounded like the guy had just woken up from a nap, all the time.

"Should I be?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. Was he seriously doing this in public right now? Internally, I'm seething. Was it not humiliating enough when it was just the six of us who knew what was going on? Now we were doing this in public? _Nine. Ten._

"I don't know?" Shikamaru asked, a hand on his hip now as he looked at me. "Were you flirting with me?"

"What?" I asked, eyes wide. Did he seriously just ask me that? In a public restaurant, around our teammates? The waitress had literally just put down our drinks when he said it, and by the look on her face, she had heard him as well. ' _Fuck this.'_ I thought.

"I'm suddenly not hungry. I'll meet you guys at the training field." I told my teammates, who were looking at Shikamaru gobsmacked by the idiocy of the genius. I stood up to leave and Shikamaru moved a little bit so that he was in my way. "Please move, I'd prefer not to talk now."

"Well, wait. I didn't mean anything by it." Shikamaru said, grabbing my wrist to stop me from walking away. "You don't have to leave."

"I know I don't have to leave." I replied quietly, trying not to cause a scene. "I want too. Now move."

"Can you at least answer my question?" Shikamaru asked, looking more wary as the conversation continued and he probably saw how mad I was getting.

"Fuck. You." I seethed, grabbing one of the tea cups and pouring it over his shoulder. The hot tea made him let go of my hand with a jerky motion, gasping a little as the hot liquid dripped down his arm, soaking his jacket sleeve. Stepping around him, I walked out of the building and down the street. I hate people sometimes, they were all idiots.

* * *

"All I'm saying is, you might have overreacted." Akari said as I pounded the wooden stand later that day in front of me. "I mean, I know he shouldn't have asked that in public - and with the waitress right there - but he was just curious and it was the first time he had seen you since the preliminaries."

"Akari, I don't want to talk about it." I told her for the third time, continuing to strike at the wooden stakes sticking out of the training stand. My gloves were getting a little worn on the back, it was almost time to get a new pair.

"I mean, you have to admit." Akari said with a slight giggle "It was kind of funny. You should have seen his face when you left, he looked absolutely bewildered."

"Akari." I snapped out, forcing her to stop giggling and mutter a sorry. "He could have asked to speak with me alone. Now, I seriously don't want to talk about it - the third exam is coming up and we need to get ready, not gossiping about boys like those kunoichi in the academy."

"Alright, alright." Akari said placatingly, putting up her hands. "I think you should talk to him though, it sounds like a misunderstanding. That's all I'm going to say."

"We should be so lucky." I muttered snarkily, continuing to punch the target with everything that I had.

 **A/N: I know, it's short - these last two have been. It's just that I need them to be like this for a little while because there really isn't that much going on. It's mostly just training for the third exam and that won't be for at least another two chapters - I need some things to happen before the invasion. So, my lovelies, enjoy the drama bits as best you can and I'll try to work in some action ;) Please keep reviewing! It's inspiring me to write more and more, hence why I am updating so quickly! Just so everyone knows, and because I'm a smug idiot, here are the stats after only NINE DAYS PEOPLE:**

 **Views: 856**

 **Reviews: 13**

 **Favorites: 24**

 **Followers: 32**

 **I am overwhelmed by this awesome response and I hope you all continue to enjoy the story!**

 **Much love,**

 **~Rache**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

I grabbed Rafus feet, pulling him down into the dirt and raised myself out of the ground a moment later. I activated my dojutsu and ducked just as Akari threw a wave of fire towards me, I rolled under it and did a kip up to get to my feet.

"Watch it, Akari!" Rafu shouted as he felt the heat from the fire blast above his head. "I'm on your side here!"

"Sorry." Akari called out, throwing her senbon towards me. I spun in the air, my body only inches away from the senbon, and when I landed on my feet Akari kicked my stomach hard. I fell back on my rear, hands up to catch her foot as she performed an axe kick. I tackled her feet and landed on top of her, reaching for a shuriken to hold to her throat, but she hooked my leg and flipped us over so that she was on top. I froze when I felt her senbon against my neck and sighed, letting my head hit the dirt behind me.

"I surrender." I said sullenly, causing Akari to grin through the pants as she tried to catch her breath.

"Finally." She said, rolling off me, laying on her back and spreading out on the ground. "I'm freaking exhausted."

"Uh, guys." Rafu's irritated voice sounded up from behind us. We both lifted our heads and saw him stuck in the ground, one hand wiggling fingers at us. "Did you forget something?"

We both burst out laughing at him. I clutched my stomach, the intense workout we had just gone through not doing me any favors with the laughs wracking my entire body. It probably wasn't that funny, but when you're tired it really was. Rafu was normally so composed and he had dirt everywhere, it blended in with the rust color of his hair, and the way his fingers were waggling out of the ground like pale, little worms just completed the hilarious picture.

"Sorry, Ra-Rafu." I said, still chuckling as I lifted myself from the ground and walked towards him. I used my earth release technique to grab his shoulders with my hands and yank him out of the ground, both of us falling back with him landing on top of me, and causing Akari to burst out in a fresh wave of giggles.

"Not exactly graceful there, boys." Akari commented, a hand in front of her mouth to try and stifle the noises coming out.

"Oh shut up." We both said at the same time, and then I shoved Rafu off of me. He groaned in pain as his back hit the ground, and I threw a lopsided grin at him when he opened his eyes again.

"My entire body is sore." Rafu complained, trying to sit up. "When is the torture going to end!"

"Training never ends." Takeshi-sensei said, finally speaking up from where he had sat observing our two-versus-one fight. We had been doing this for a few hours now, first Rafu and I versus Akari, then Akari and I versus Rafu, and finally the one we had just completed. After every fight, Takeshi-sensei told us what we could have done better and what we did well.

"Alright, everyone circle up." Takeshi-sensei demanded, pointing in front of the stump he was currently sitting on. We all gathered around him; Akari was shaking dirt out of her hair while she sat on her knees, Rafu had his legs sprawled out in front of him, and I was sitting with my legs crossed as we focused on our sensei. "Ren - good job making them get in each other's way, that's hard to do with teammates who work together so well. You relied on your dojutsu a little too much and you know Akari and Rafu can usually get around it at least a little. I wish you would've used the new taijutsu moves we have been working on, I saw a couple of opportunities you missed, but we'll work on it."

"Alright, Akari." Takeshi continued, looking at said girl who stopped fiddling with her hair as soon as she was addressed. "You did awesome today. I like the mixture of projectiles you sent and the fire, you really kept Ren back for most of the time and you know he's better at taijutsu so that was a smart call. I can tell your speed has gotten a lot better, but you need to be careful about how much chakra you're using. If Ren hadn't gotten careless towards the end, you would've been done for - especially with Rafu out of the way."

"Rafu." Takeshi said, looking towards said person. "You should've used some genjutsu on Rafu; I know your chakra was low and you were saving it in case someone got hurt, but you know it's his weakness and you guys would've finished a lot faster. We are close to the hospital so I want you to practice with your all - but that was great control and planning for the future, I would've done the same in the field knowing you have Akari as a powerhouse backing you up."

"Alright, Team Eleven." Takeshi-sensei concluded, looking all of us over. "You have the rest of the day off."

"Yes!" Akari cheered, punching the air. "I am so going to take a shower."

"Can we still.." Rafu started, his cheeks tinting red a little. "I mean, do you still maybe want to grab some food?"

"Sure." Akari said, grinning at him and tucking her hair behind her ear. Rafu turned to me and asked if I wanted to join them, making Akari's face drop instantly and behind his back she was making the gesture with her hand across her neck and mouthing that she will kill me. Just to rile Akari up, I pretended like I was thinking about it before rejecting the offer.

"I'm good, Raf." I said, smiling encouragingly at him "You guys go have fun."

"Okay, Ren." Rafu said, looking slightly relieved and solidifying the idea that he had only asked to be polite - Rafu was always worried about excluding me when Akari and he hung out together.

"Alright, Alright." Takeshi-sensei said, looking at us pointedly but with a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. "You guys enjoy the rest of the day and night, no need to be on alert; training starts at seven am tomorrow morning, so get a good night's rest. Dismissed."

Takeshi used the body flicker technique and left the three of us. We all got up and stretched a little before walking away from the training ground in pretty high spirits; training was hard, but we could honestly see an improvement in our stamina and I had just recently learned the earth release instantaneous body skill that allowed me to travel in the earth - it was now my favorite jutsu. That with the quicksand and my ground shockwave technique boosted it up to three different jutsu I could use. I still needed to conserve most of my chakra for my dojutsu, but it was comforting to have another jutsu in my arsenal.

"So, what are you going to do for the rest of the day?" Akari asked, bumping my hip with her own as we walked towards Akari's house.

"Well, after I get okaasan to make me some lunch" I smirked at this, winking at Akari who just rolled her eyes in response. "I'm probably going to meditate some at our place."

"You're so boring, Ren." Akari complained "We were just there a couple days ago and you meditated for a few hours."

"It's relaxing." I replied, smiling at her. "You guys have fun on your.."

"Dinner." Rafu filled in for me

"Yeah, your dinner..Alone." I said suggestively, trying to get it in his head it was a date. Realistically, I knew they both knew it was a date, but I wanted one of them to finally say it. Hopefully it was Akari so I could collect that money from Takeshi, but as long as it happened soon; I think okaasan and I were both about to lock them in a room until they confess.

"I'll pick you up in a couple hours?" Rafu asked Akari, and when she nodded in agreement, he bent down and gave her a hug, clapping me on the shoulder, before walking towards his own house. He called back to us over his shoulder "Tell Hatori-san I said hello!"

Akari replied she would and we walked down the street towards her house. We both walked in the front door and called out, hearing okaasan reply from the kitchen, and Akari told me to let her mom know she was going to shower. I agreed and Akari dashed up the stairs to get ready for the shower, leaving me to meander towards the kitchen where a heavenly smell was coming from.

"Hello, okaasan." I greeted, flashing my teeth at her and sitting down at her table. "This smells heavenly."

"Oh, Ren-chan, you always flatter me so." Aya Hatori replied, giving me one of her gentle, motherly smiles. "How are things with you?"

"I'm well!" I replied cheerfully, thanking her as she put a plate of food in front of me. After basically growing up here from the time I was seven, I had gotten used to Aya Hatori constantly feeding me - it helped that the food was amazing. "Akari is going to bathe, Rafu and she are going to dinner tonight, you know."

"That's lovely!" Aya commented, giving me a conspiratorial grin "Do you think tonight is when they stop being silly and fess up how they feel?"

"We'll see." I said noncommittally, not willing to bet on it or anything.

"And how is your love life going, Ren-chan?" Aya asked gently, sitting down at the table. "Akari told me about what happened at the restaurant the other day."

"I'm fine, okaasan." I assured her, frowning a little as I thought about that day. "I probably shouldn't have thrown my tea on him, but he just gets me very frustrated."

"I understand." Aya said, nodding "I think if you see him again, that maybe you should explain how you felt and maybe he will understand better."

"No, okaasan." I said, covering my face with my hands for a moment. "That's too embarrassing."

"Sometimes, Ren-chan, you have to put yourself out there in the truest way you can." Aya told me gently, bringing my hands away from my face and pushing the braid behind my ear as she always does. The familiar gesture filled me with warmth, even though the braid fell right back where it was before.

"What if I get humiliated?" I asked her, already feeling a little exposed - which was ridiculous, Aya Hatori had basically raised me.

"All you can do is hope that when you do put yourself out there, that other's will do the same." Aya said, her hand over my own which was on the table. "Either you'll connect or you won't, but at least you did what you could."

"I guess." I murmured, frowning down at my food and thinking over what she said.

"Now, eat up!" Okaasan commanded me, smiling "You're too thin."

"Okaasan, I'm not that thin." I complained, but started eating the food in front of me anyway. What I would do without this wonderful woman in my life, I wasn't sure, but I reminded myself to thank Akari for the thousandth time for opening her family up to me when she did.

The two of us chatted as we ate; she spoke of the neighbors, about how excited she was her husband was coming home soon from another mission, and how she couldn't wait until Akari and Rafu would finally get together. I told her about training, how I was only a little nervous for the exam's, and she told me that she would be there, cheering Akari and I on in the stands. Pretty soon, Akari came down the stairs with her curly hair wrapped up in a towel and sat down at the table, eating only a little bit so she didn't spoil her dinner with Rafu and talking with us as well. As soon as they began talking about what Akari was going to wear, I excused myself and told them I was going to our favorite place and I would probably be there until the sun set. I snagged one of my favorite books and walked at a pretty slow pace, breathing in the fresh air and stretching my slightly tired limbs. It was truly a beautiful day to be outside, the sun was warm but not hot and the sky was blue with fluffy clouds spattered in the sky.

* * *

I had been sitting under the big tree for a little over an hour, enjoying the breeze on my face and the warm sunlight on my face as I meditated with my eyes closed. I was enjoying it until I heard extremely light footsteps coming up the hill from behind me and I tensed, wondering if I should turn around and acknowledge the person, but I was hoping that they would see that this spot was occupied and go away. Occasionally, Akari and I ran into people here but it was pretty rare that anyone came out this far to this particular spot - Konoha was a beautiful place, there were plenty of amazing places to relax or do activities, this just happened to be my personal favorite. Akari and Rafu had come out here so much to find me or just to spend some time, the three of us together, that after a couple of years back in our academy days it became our very own spot.

I got a little irritated when I heard the person stop a few paces behind where I was sitting and I could feel their eyes looking at my back - it gave me that peculiar feeling along my spine. I sighed, slouching for just a moment as the air left my body in a less controlled manner than it normally would, and opened my eyes. I didn't look back to see who it was, but I did speak up when I figured they weren't going to say anything.

"You may take a picture, it might last longer." I said dryly, and I heard a quiet snicker as a response.

"Maybe I will." A familiar raspy voice responded, making my spine stiffen in discomfort. "As long as there aren't any hot drinks around."

"No promises." I muttered, closing my eyes again. Why did it have to be him?

"Can I sit?" He asked me, coming along beside where I was sitting with my legs folded.

"If you must." was my reply, not feeling particularly kind. I felt a small twinge of guilt when I remembered Aya's words from earlier, however, and so I promised myself I would at least be polite if he was going to sit down.

"Can we start over?" Shikamaru asked, his raspy voice cautious. "People can be troublesome. I didn't mean to offend you or anything."

I opened my eyes and glanced over at him. One of his legs was out in front of him, the other bent and had his arm resting on it - his face was turned towards the sky and his eyes were just gazing out to the skyline. I thought for a moment, letting the silence hang between us, before thinking that his idea was probably the best. It would be the mature and the right thing to do to just let this whole thing go and move forward, especially if he was going to keep popping up like this.

"My name is Ren." I told him, making this the third time I hand introduced myself.

"I'm Nara Shikamaru." He replied, his lips twisting up into a small smile. "I like watching clouds, napping, and playing Shogi."

"I enjoy singing and meditating." I told him, smiling a little myself. "I play the occasional game of Shogi, as well."

"We'll have to play sometime."

I hummed in agreement, closing my eyes and going back to meditating. After a minute or two, I felt my body relax; we were both silent, but it was a comfortable silence. One where you didn't feel any pressure to speak, because there weren't really any words to say, and we sat like that for about half an hour. I felt him lie back completely, and I opened my eyes to look at him, shaking my head and smiling when I saw he had taken his short-sleeved jacket off to use as a pillow as he stared up at the sky. Thinking for a moment, I mentally shrugged, and then laid back as well with my legs spread out on the warm grass and my arms behind my head. The clouds were drifting slowly in the sky, and I entertained myself by seeing what shapes I could imagine in the white depths.

"So." Shikamaru said, and I noticed his smirk out of the corner of my eye. "You like me, huh?"

"I tolerate you." I corrected him after I let his sentence hang in the air for a moment, hoping he wouldn't notice the little dusting of red on my cheeks.

"I guess I could handle that." Shikamaru said, making the corners of my lips turn up a little.

"So, how is training going?" I asked curiously, wondering if his sensei was as crazy as mine. I didn't know much about Asuma Sarutobi except that he was the son of the Hokage.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru replied, exhaling a little. "Asuma isn't too bad though. I wouldn't tell him this, but he's actually pretty cool."

"Takeshi-sensei is crazy." I said flatly, enjoying the way he chuckled quietly. It was a slow laugh, as though it really had to work it's way up from his throat, and I thought it suited him perfectly. "I wouldn't trade him for anyone though. He's really great."

"Yeah, I'm the same way with Asuma." Shikamaru told me, a fond look on his face as he talked about the Jonin in charge of his team.

"Hey, Shikamaru?" I asked, finally asking something that had been bugging me a little after he had sat down.

"Yeah?" He responded lazily, his eyes half-lidded like he was about to fall asleep.

"Did you know I was here or did you just wander up here?"

He laughed that slow laugh, a tiny grin begging to stretch his lips, before he replied to me. "Akari and Rafu send you their best, and told me to let you know not to kill them tomorrow."

"I thought so." I said, sighing a little bit at my nosey, interfering friends.

"They're almost as bad as Ino." Shikamaru told me "She can be pretty troublesome."

"Yeah, she looks like a handful." I told him, picturing the girl in my head; she seemed extremely high energy and high maintenance. I could imagine how a lot of the interactions between Shikamaru and her went, their personalities must clash quite a bit.

"She has her moments." He replied, the same fond look on his face when he was talking about Asuma. I think he was as close to his team as I was to mine, and for some stupid reason, that made me a little bit happy. It was nice to have people you were close to; people who were precious to you.

"I'd like to meet them properly one day, maybe." I told him, thinking about how friendly Choji seemed. They weren't so bad. "After I beat you at Shogi."

"A little cocky, aren't we?" Shikamaru asked, a smirk on his face as he threw the words I had said to him back at me.

I shrugged, laughing a little bit, and we were silent for the rest of the time we laid there, watching the sun go down and the way that it burst behind the clouds, scattering it's rays along the cloud and highlighting the white with orange, pink, and red. It was a wonderful end to a beautiful day. When the two of us got up and walked back towards town, separating when we were found out we were going opposite directions, I thought that it would be easy to be his friend with how laidback he was. We made plans to meet up in a couple of days and play that game of Shogi, and I was honestly looking forward to it. I made a mental note to stop at the Yamanaka's flower shop and get some flowers for Akari's mom; she definitely deserved them.

 **A/N: I updated twice in one day.. I had to write this. It's a little fluffy, I needed it before things start to go downhill for everyone - tensions will be running high, with the third exam and the invasion coming up. Pretty soon you'll start to meet more canon characters - I'm excited to add them in, now that I've got Ren a little more established and you see how he's interacting with other people a little more. You also will see a little more of his past come up in the next few chapter, so hang on ladies and gentleman - the ride is about to get bumpy :)**

 **Please don't forget to review!**

 **Much Love,**

 **~Rache**

 **-Amikotsu: I know, I know - I just don't think Shikamaru really think's about that kind of stuff, s I figured it might be like him to just ask what's on his mind. He thought that the flirting had been a joke, so he wanted to clarify what had been going on and the only way was to ask - it was just bad timing. Your reviews are a highlight of my day, so thank you for them all!**

 **-Guest: Thank you! I absolutely will, I have quite a bit of this already planned out and the story is just kind of writing itself right now. I'm trying to get as much down as I can before I, knock on wood here, get some kind of writer's block or something comes up where I can't write as much as I have been.**

 **-Sarahgri: Your reviews make me smile! I'm so glad you like Ren, I love him to bits and pieces. Let me know what you think now that the two have made up ;)**

 **-Shis23: I'm glad you've enjoyed the story! I haven't heard from you for awhile, so let me know if you are still enjoying the direction it's going in!**

 **-Paulavara140: Thank you! I'm excited as well, as you can probably tell by host fast I've been updating! Keep following the story, it's going to get pretty bumpy for Team Eleven soon.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

' _Oh, Kami.'_ I thought, groaning a little bit as I pressed a hand to my aching stomach. _'I am never listening to Akari again.'_

I opened my eyes, glancing around my bedroom, and saw Akari and Rafu curled up on the floor. I know for a fact that they had started out on virtually opposite sides of the room, granted my bedroom wasn't that big, and now they were curled up. We had stayed up late last night and somehow Akari had convinced me to eat twelve cups of ramen - she had bet that I couldn't do it, anyway. I won the bet but I'd probably have to spend my winnings on some stomach medicine because I was in pain right now. I quietly got out of bed and walked to my bathroom, hoping I had some kind of medicine in my cabinet, and quietly jumping for joy when I found some - until I remembered how bad my stomach hurt and then stifled my groan when it hurt from jumping.

After I took a dose of medicine, thank you Aya Hatori for your mothering, I creeped back into my room with a camera I had gotten as a gift from Takeshi-sensei last year in my hands. I was going to pay okaasan back with a picture of Akari and Rafu curled up and being all cute as they were. Grinning to myself, I lifted the camera to my eyes, focused the lens, and let the flash go off as I took the picture - making them both blearily look at me before they realised the compromising situation they were in. I took another photo, they jumped apart with cheeks red, I took another photo, they both dived towards me. What ensued could only be described as chaos - the pictures I took had my panicked face in them, those two chasing me, the three of us fighting, and then the last picture was of us three smiling at the camera, our sleep tousled hair a mess, and big grins on our faces. I would treasure these pictures in the coming years and I knew I needed to get them framed.

I was supposed to meet Shikamaru in a couple of hours to play Shogi; Takeshi-sensei had officially released us from training until after the third exam was over, so we were relaxing until then. He didn't want any of us getting hurt or being drained for the last exam, we needed to be in top physical condition - these were some of the best genin around, after all. I took a shower, made an extremely light breakfast because I was wary attempting to stomach a lot, and then walked with Akari and Rafu to Akari's house. I had gotten those flowers for Okaasan like I had wanted and she had been extremely happy with them. Akari's dad, Jotaro Hatori, had finally returned from his extended mission and had commented on them, asking if another man had tried to steal the love of his life - all in jest, of course. I had never seen two people more in love than Akari's parents, and I could easily see Rafu and Akari being just like them as we got older.

I left Akari and Rafu at the house before walking towards the Nara compound, wondering what it would be like. I knew the Nara were renowned for their intellect, and their laziness, but I had never met one besides Shikamaru. Which only really served to remind me that I should probably get out more - it was great having Akari, her family, Rafu, and Takeshi-sensei but I would have to work with other shinobi in the future. It was important to know other's skills and personalities when you were going into a combat situation, otherwise you couldn't form a proper plan.

It wasn't long before I came upon the Nara compound, located outside the forest where they tended their deer, and I was honestly a little intimidated by the walls of the compound. Their was a guard on duty and I walked up to him, he had the same brown hair tied back that Shikamaru had, and asked if Shikamaru was inside. The guard nodded, telling me to wait and that Shikamaru would come outside to get me and escort me in. I waited for a few minutes before Shikamaru came out of the house, rubbing his eyes a little as though he had just woken up.

"Hey." I greeted the Nara, smiling a little.

"Hey, Ren." Shikamaru replied, a lazy smile on his face. "I know we were supposed to play Shogi, but Choji is in the hospital because of indigestion and I wanted to bring him something - want to come with me?"

"Sure." I replied, and walked into the compound as he gestured me in. The guard nodded at me and I did so in return, letting my curious eyes roam around the Nara's residences. "Is Choji going to be alright?"

"Yeah, he just needed some rest." Shikamaru said, smirking a little. "I hear Naruto was in their as well, so I might drop by his room."

I nodded, wondering if he minded me accompanying him, but then dismissed the thought because he had invited me. We came to a house that I assumed was his because he entered without knocking, discarding his shoes and putting on house slippers. I followed his lead, neatly putting my shoes in a corner, and slipping on the slippers he indicated were for guests.

"Mom!" Shikamaru called out, walking towards a doorway where I could hear someone, presumably Shikamaru's mother, bustling around inside.

"What is it, Shikamaru?" A stern voice asked, and as I entered the doorway, I saw a beautiful woman with tied back brown hair and a white apron over her pink dress. When she saw me, her eyebrows went up a little in surprise. "Oh, who's this?"

"My name is Ren, Nara-sama." I answered, bowing in front of the woman. "You have a beautiful home, I hope it was alright Shikamaru invited me inside to see it."

"Well thank you." Shikamaru's mom said, her stern expression giving way to a smile that seemed to warm the kitchen we were standing in. "You may call me Yoshino, we aren't so big on formalities here."

"As you wish, Yoshino-san." I replied, smiling at her in return.

Yoshino Nara laughed, looking from me to Shikamaru's face, and then speaking to her son. "Why haven't I met this polite young man before, Shikamaru?"

"We haven't known each other that long, Mom." Shikamaru said, scratching the back of his head. "We are going to go visit Choji, is there some fruit or anything we could take him?"

"Yes, let me get it together." Yoshino said, bending down and picking a basket out of a cupboard.

"Allow me to help, Yoshino-san. Just tell me what to do." I offered, and the woman blinked in surprise.

"Why don't you ever offer to help, Shikamaru?" Yoshino asked, and he rolled his eyes, mumbling troublesome woman and I believe his mother heard him, but ignored the comment. "It's alright dear, you take a seat and I'll be just a moment. So how did you meet Shikamaru?"

"We sat next to each other in the first exam." Shikamaru spoke up for me, going to get some fruit and putting it in the basket.

"Well that's nice. Are you in the final exam as well, Ren?" Yoshino asked me

"Yes, Yoshino-san." I replied "I am very excited to be participating."

"Well, I wish Shikamaru had some of that enthusiasm." Yoshino commented, staring at Shikamaru who just shrugged. I heard Yoshino say something under her breath about being just like his father and suppressed a chuckle, which earned me a light hearted glare from Shikamaru when his mother's back was turned. I shrugged in response, sticking my tongue out immaturely, and it was he who had to suppress a laugh after he saw the strange face I made when my tongue poked out of my mouth.

"Ren, you come back soon okay, and good luck on the exam!" Yoshino said as she finished packing the basket full of fruit for Choji and handed it to us to bring to him. I smiled in return, bowing once more.

"Thank you, Yoshino-san. I am thankful for your well wishes." I told her, and after a bored sounding 'I love you' from Shikamaru, we walked out of the door.

"Kiss ass." Shikamaru grumbled at me, but I could tell he wasn't truly bothered by it and even appreciated the respect I had shown his mother.

"Your okaasan seems like a very warm person." I told him

"She's tyrannical." Shikamaru said, snorting a little and shrugging. "She nags a lot and my dad is absolutely whipped by her; but yeah, she can be great sometimes. What is your mother like?"

In the past, when someone would ask about my parents, I would freeze and be embarrassed to tell them that I did not know but I had gotten used to it over the years. I still hated the pity in people's eyes, but it was something I learned to ignore.

"I have never known my actual parents." I told him, not looking at his face to see his reaction. "However, Akari's parents have basically adopted me and so they have become my family."

"How did that happen?" Shikamaru asked, and I froze for a moment when I looked at him. There wasn't pity in his eyes, nor sympathy, it was only curiosity I could see shining through them. I appreciated it more than I realised I ever would, and so I decided to tell him something not many knew about me.

"I was adopted from the orphanage when I was young by civilians." I said, a far-off look in my eye as I recalled it. "Do you remember in the preliminaries, how I covered my eyes to fight that other Shinobi?"

"Yeah." Shikamaru said, looking full on at me know with unrestrained curiosity displayed openly on his face and no longer contained just within his half-lidded eyes. He looked more alert than I had seen him since the Forest of Death, and it threw me off for a moment.

"I have a..gift. A dojutsu, of sorts." I said, wondering how the best way to explain it was without giving too much information or it being too confusing. He could probably keep up with any complicated explanation, but in case we were up against one another in the third exam, I don't want him to know too much about how it works. "Before I tell you about it, I need you to promise you won't mention to anyone unless I give my explicit permission.

"Alright." Shikamaru said slowly, clearly wondering why I would ask that but not questioning it out loud. "I promise."

"I have a gift called pre-flex." I told him, thinking of when the Hokage had explained to me what he thought it was. "I can see glimpses of the future."

"So during that fight, you were..?" Shikamaru asked, his face screwed up in surprise as he thought about what that would mean.

"Yeah, I was looking at the future to avoid the blows. I knew what he would throw at me, how I should react, and was always a step ahead of him." I explained, twisting my hands together in an uncharacteristic display of nervousness.

"Wow." Shikamaru said, I could almost see his mind racing as he thought about the possibilities. I could never have predicted what he was going to say next though. "That would make playing Shogi with you really interesting."

I stared at in, baffled, and shook my head slowly back and forth. "I just told you I could see into the future, and you're thinking about how hard it would be to beat me at a game?"

Shikamaru shrugged before gesturing with his hand for me to continue. "How does this involve Akari?"

"Well, I met Akari not long after I was adopted by them, we met at a park. You have to understand, I didn't have control of it back then; sometimes, I would just see flashes of something happening. The civilians didn't understand. They.. they wanted to send me to an asylum, because they thought I was crazy or possessed. I didn't think to hide it from them, and so when little things I predicted came true, they got really scared." I spoke, the fear and self loathing from that time in my life, which was now a distant memory, still leaving a bad taste in my mouth. "Akari knew as well, I had done things at the park and she was my only friend at the time. She told her Dad about the little boy who could see into the future and at first, otosan thought it was just a child's' imagination."

"I saw one day, in a vision, my parent's giving me to someone to take me away to the asylum. I ran to the park, but couldn't find Akari, and so I started shouting her name as I ran down a street I knew she lived on. That was when her mom found me, crying and shaking because of how terrified I was. I told her everything." I told him, smiling as I remembered the first time I had been swept into one of Okaasan's hugs as a child. "They went to the Hokage and told him, I showed my ability, and I was taken away from the civilian couple. I was going to be sent back to the orphanage, but Akari begged her parent's to let me live with them and become her little brother. The rest.. Well, the rest is history."

"That was kind of them" Shikamaru commented, still processing everything I had told him.

"Yeah, I owe them everything." I agreed, a warm feeling in my body at the thought of my little family. I hadn't realised we had arrived at the hospital while I was talking, and so it took me by surprise to see the building looming in front of us. "Oh, we're here!"

"Very observant of you." Shikamaru teased, bumping his shoulder against mine in a friendly manner. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you didn't go to the nut house."

I laughed at his blunt statement, feeling relieved for some reason that I had spoken with someone outside of my family about it, and bumped his shoulder back. "Yeah, they wanted to leave a room empty for when you need it."

Shikamaru snorted at what I had said and we were quiet until we approached the desk to find out which room belonged to Choji. The woman at the front desk informed us of which room Choji was in, and eyeing the fruit basket, told us he wasn't allowed to eat anything right now. Shikamaru decided to visit Naruto first, and give him the basket of fruit instead, and so we got his room number and headed that way. I had never met Naruto, but I knew of him; I was looking forward to finally getting introduced, although I've heard he could be quite.. excitable.

When we entered the room, Naruto was resting still; so, setting the basket on one of the tables, Shikamaru took a seat. Shikamaru spotted a pile of games over in a corner and I saw him visibly brighten as his eyes locked onto a Shogi board.

"Looks like we can play Shogi after all." Shikamaru said, smirking a little.

"You're on!" I responded, and we leisurely set out the pieces and the game commenced. Shikamaru was a hard opponent, I could tell; We both started out by getting a feel for how the other played. He probed my defences, I left spots weak on purpose; It was the most that I had ever thought out a game of Shogi. We took our time, quietly moving pieces, the only sound was an hourglass filled with sand that was keeping track of time. It was at a turning point in the game that I saw Shikamaru do the same thing he had done in the woods; he brought his thumb and forefingers together to form almost a circle, closing his eyes, and stayed that way for a couple of minutes. I studied his face while he did so, noting the way his brow furrowed and his nose wrinkled just the tiniest bit every now and then. Smirking to myself, I activated my dojutsu to see what he would do and I only saw one move. I was confused for a moment until I realised that he most likely had more than one strategy, and depending on how I would react, that would determine what strategy he would use.

"No cheating." Shikamaru chided softly, shocking me. His eyes were still closed and I gaped at him for a moment.

"How did you..?" I asked, confused

"It's what I would do if I could see in the future." Shikamaru admitted, finally opening his eyes to lock those dark, onyx orbs onto my own gray ones. "But it's cheating, so no Sakimonagan."

"You named my dojutsu?" I asked, amused that he called them future eye.

"You sounded sad when you said you didn't really know what it was, so I gave it a name." Shikamaru shrugged, acting as though it was no big deal, but I could see the flush working its way up the back of his neck.

"Thank you." I said sincerely, a little touched he had not only noticed that but that he had sought to remedy it.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered, moving one of his pieces and looking at me expectantly. It was the same piece I had seen him moving in my vision a moment ago. I was about to pick up my own piece and move it to counter when Naruto started to wake up, causing us both to focus on the blonde in the bed.

"Huh?" Naruto mumbled, tired eyes blinking the sleep out "Shikamaru?"

"Yeah, it's me." Shikamaru replied, eyes focused on the table beside me. I glanced over and frowned, noting that the sand had stopped falling in the hourglass; did someone forget to wind it all the way?

"How long was I out?" Naruto asked blearily

"The doctors said you've been like that for three days." Shikamaru said casually

"Three days?"Naruto exclaimed, sitting straight up in bed. "When is the competition?"

"Tomorrow." Shikamaru said, slightly confused

"Tomorrow?!" Naruto shouted, and suddenly he was a blur of motion as he jumped around the room trying to gather his stuff. He grabbed Shikamaru by his jacket and began shaking him, asking about someone he called 'pervy sage' and then dropped him, going on a hunt for his clothes.

"Would you KNOCK IT OFF!" Shikamaru shouted, making even me jump a little because I had never heard him get that loud before. Honestly, I didn't know he could get that loud. "Don't freak out, Naruto - sometimes resting is the best thing for you."

"Hey! You're that guy who blindfolded himself!" Naruto exclaimed, finally noticing me. "That was awesome!"

"Thank you." I replied politely, smiling because of his exuberance. "My name is Ren, and you are Naruto Uzumaki, right?"

"Yeah, you have got to show me how to do that, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted out, sitting up. "Was it a jutsu or what?"

"It's not something I can really teach." I told him, shrugging a little but feeling bad at the disheartened look on his face. ""Sorry."

"Whats wrong?" Shikamaru asked Naruto, frowning and looking at the blonde shinobi who was holding his stomach.

"I'm hungry." Naruto admitted, his stomach letting out a loud growl to empathise his point.

"Well, you're in luck." Shikamaru said, pulling the fruit basket up. "We brought this for Choji, but the doctors said he couldn't have it, so we can share it."

"Oh boy!" Naruto said, giddily grabbing an apple from the top of the pile before freezing right as he was going to bite into it.

"What now?" Shikamaru asked

"We should eat it in front of Choji." Naruto said with a mischievous look in his eyes and a devilish smile to match.

"Man, that's mean." Shikamaru said, shaking his head but smirking all the same. "I like it."

The three of us got up and we were about to step into the hallway when I got a strange vibe. It was almost instinct to activate my newly dubbed Sakimonagan when I got this kind of feeling. My eyes turned ice blue, and I vaguely noticed Shikamaru stepping in front of me when he saw my eyes to block Naruto's view.

 _The air was heavy and dry, the room had a sterile smell to it that made me scrunch my nose in disgust. I never liked hospitals. The room was similar to Naruto's, but instead of the blonde leaf genin, there was a young boy with black hair and extremely bushy eyebrows. Rock Lee; this must be his room. I felt a pang of guilt for not having visited him, but with how hard training had been lately it had slipped my head. I saw someone standing by his bed, and my body tensed when I recognised the red hair; it was the sand shinobi who had faced Lee during the preliminaries. What was he doing here?_

 _His hand moved and I followed it, in a trance, and saw the way the sand was curling around Lee's body. I approached the bed, trying to get a better view, and froze instantly when I saw the demented look in Gaara's eyes. I saw his hand clench and heard the bones in Lee's body break, killing him where he lied, and then the heart monitor flat lined beside him. I gasped, and the redhead looked straight at me with the most dead eyes I had ever seen._

"Lee!" I gasped, snapping out of the vision. I grabbed Naruto roughly, who was cheerfully telling Shikamaru about 'the pervy sage' and gripped his shoulders. "Where is Rock Lee's room?"

"What? Why?" Naruto asked with a confused look at Shikamaru.

"This is no time for questions, this is life and death: where is the fucking room, Naruto?" I asked loudly, his eyes widening in shock at the rough treatment.

"Naruto, listen to him." Shikamaru advised, worried eyes glued to the side of my face.

"Down the hall." Naruto said, pointing and was opening his mouth to say something else but I was already sweeping past him, basically sprinting, and hoping that I wasn't too late. I heard Shikamaru and Naruto following behind me, and when we got to the door I peeked in, motioning for Shikamaru and Naruto to do the same. I put my hand over Naruto's mouth when he opened it to shout something before looking at Shikamaru and raising an eyebrow. Shikamaru nodded, obviously understanding what I meant, and we crept into the room. Gaara's hand was open and was just about to close when Shikamaru caught him in his shadow possession jutsu. Naruto, before I could stop him, ran full speed at Gaara and punched him in the face; which also caused Shikamaru to reel backwards and yell at Naruto, telling him whatever hurt Gara like that hurt him as well.

"What do you think you are doing?" I demanded, glaring at the sand shinobi whose only expression was one of boredom and disdain.

"I was going to kill him." Gaara said quietly, his voice cold.

"What's your problem?" Shikamaru asked "Do you have some personal grudge against him or something? You already beat him once."

"I don't have a grudge." Gaara replied slowly, as though he were talking to dimwitted children. "I simply wanna kill him."

The three of us were silent for a moment, shocked at the declaration, and looking at each other. I steeled my resolve, angling myself somewhat between Gaara and Shikamaru, before asking him if he thought we would just stand by and let him kill our comrade.

"Well we're not, you psycho." Naruto shouted, pointing his finger at Gaara. Shikamaru tried to hush Naruto, obviously seeing and feeling how dangerous this guy was just like I was, and looked as though he were trying to think up something.

"Listen, take my advice and go." Shikamaru said, his tone low and dangerous sounding. "We were holding back in the competition, there are things we can do you haven't seen before."

"I will tell you again." Gaara said, voice void of emotion and eyes dead except for a small flicker of what looked like insanity to me. "Get out of my way or die."

"Screw you!" Naruto said, advancing but Shikamaru held him back.

"Trust me, Naruto, we don't want to go there. This guy acts like a demon." Shikamaru told him quietly

"He can act like a demon if he wants." Naruto said dangerously, glowering at the sand village shinobi. "I have the real thing inside me."

"My demon is as real as yours." Gaara told Naruto, locking eyes with him and telling us about how his father sealed a demon away inside of him; how Gaara destroyed his mother during birth and how he was born a monster. How the village hidden in the sand ostracized the child and shunned him, leaving him lonely and afraid. Gaara tells us a story of how Shikaku the sand spirit was trapped inside of him and how he became a real monster, and became the way he is now.

Naruto starts to back off, a wide-eyed terror in his eyes, and Shikamaru asked him what was wrong. I grimaced when I noticed the sand star to move from where it was lying limply on Lee a moment ago to gathering around the redheaded boy.

"Shikamaru, stay behind me." I told him quietly, grabbing his attention and I heard him breathe in sharply.

"He shouldn't be able to do that." Shikamaru told me, fear in his voice. I had to fight to not allow my limbs to shake, something about this boy was inherently frightening and after hearing that he had a demon inside of him, it only made him more terrifying.

"You have to hold him while I deflect the sand." I said quietly, my eyes never leaving the yellows grains starting to rise as one in the air. "First chance we get, we grab Lee and get out of here."

"Alright." Shikamaru agreed, determination filling his voice and making me steel myself. I felt a little bit more brave, a little more powerful; I had to do this to save Naruto, Lee, and Shikamaru. There was no other choice. I activated my Sakimonagan and as my eyes turned blue, the sand began surging forward and I gripped my kunai hard.

"That's enough." A new voice said from the door, causing the sand to settle and start to go back into Gaara's gourd. "Save it for the tournament."

Gaara doesn't say a word at first, all of us watching him warily as he walked towards the door and the sand that had surrounded him went back into the gourd. He froze right before walking into the hallway, his back to us, and said in a calm, controlled voice that had no emotions attached to it.

"All the same, I will kill you. Just wait. I'll kill you all."

I shivered slightly at the threat, instantly glad that I wasn't going to be the one to go up against that guy in the tournament tomorrow. I honestly hoped I would never have too because.. I don't think I would win.

 **A/N: Hey! New Chapter! Update and tell me how you like it! This next chapter, the one after this, is going to be absolutely crazy. It might take me a few days to write it, so be on the lookout, but the more reviews I get the faster it will get done, that I can promise you.**

 **Review! Favorite! Follow!**

 **~Rache**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

The crowd moving towards the arena was enormous; civilians and merchants from a myriad of villages were flooding the streets. The merchants had their wares on display in the street, calling out prices to the eager crowd in an effort to sell their products. There were a lot of shinobi as well, some on guard duty and others just coming to enjoy the last portion of the chunin exams. The masses of people made me uncomfortable and I was glad Rafu, Akari, Okaasan, and I had all come a little early in an effort to avoid them.

"Are you two nervous?" Okaasan asked, eyes flitting anxiously from Akari's face to mine. "It's okay to be nervous, but be confident as well; you two are going to do amazing, you've been training so hard, and I know you'll come out okay."

"Okaasan." I said, tilting my head to the side curiously and looking at the pinched expression on her face, ignoring Akari rolling her eyes. "Are you attempting to reassure us or yourself?"

"A bit of both, I think." She replied, managing a small smile. I grabbed her hands, patting them reassuringly before I let them drop.

"We will be fine." I told her, smiling as wide as I could. "You'll see."

Rafu and Akari were standing a little ways away, talking quietly to each other, and I know that Rafu was giving her last minute pointers; it was his way of being nervous. He always over prepared when he was, ever since we were in the academy; on test days, he would bring five extra pencils just in case something happened to his first one. They announced for all of the competitors to head down to the arena and with good lucks from our friend and Okaasan, we headed down together.

"Nervous?" Akari asked, an anticipatory grin on her face as the adrenaline started to course through her veins.

"You wish." I replied breezily, waving my hand at her words.

"I hope we both make it through to the end, even though I don't want to fight you." Akari said, looking solemn for a moment at the idea.

"One fight at a time, Akari. One fight at a time." I told her, although the prospect of fighting her had crossed my mind as well. It would pretty much come down to a flip of a coin who would win between us; it could go either way.

We lined up with the others in the competition, although a few people were missing which made my eyebrows draw up in surprise; Where were Naruto, Sasuke Uchiha, and the sound genin at? They were supposed to have been here by now and it was almost time for the fights to begin. The crowd was, for the most part, seated and my hands got a little slippery with sweat from having all of the eyes on us. I wiped them off on my shirt casually, hoping no one noticed.

"Don't like crowds, huh?" Shikamaru asked, smirking at me when I turned to him and then looking down at my hands. I casually looked around to see if anyone was paying attention before I gave him the finger. "Oh, classy."

"What can I say, I was born and bred with impeccable manners; some would even mistake me for a Hyuuga." I told him quietly, the bantering between the two of us making me unwind a little bit.

Shikamaru snorted, shaking his head and throwing a surreptitious glance at Neji to see if he had hurt that, before replying flatly. "I don't doubt it."

"Is that sarcasm I hear?" I asked lightly, turning to face him a little more properly. He was dressed in his normal clothes, the leaf hitai-ite gleaming on the left shoulder of his jacket and with his mesh armor shirt beneath it. I looked over his torso, noting how toned he looked on closer inspection instead of just lanky like one might guess he would be on first glance, and then flushed when I saw him watching me give him a once over.

"See anything you like?" Shikamaru teased, and I could tell the sadistic bastard enjoyed the way my cheeks betrayed me by turning a light pink.

"Actually I was checking to make sure you weren't too lazy to put your weapons pouch on." I told him, internally wincing at the weak excuse. "Glad to see you weren't."

"Aw, I knew you liked me." Shikamaru said, his normally raspy, bored drawl being injected with a snarky tone underneath.

"I tolerate you." I reminded him dismissively, waving my hand for the second time today and wondering if that was going to become a habit. As if I needed to pick up another one: I already had the head tilt thing I did and Akari had me rolling my eyes more than ever now a days. He smirked, but didn't reply, and so I remained silent as well while we waited to see if the others showed up on time.

Naruto just barely made it, out of breath and looking for all intents and purposes as though he had just woken up and ran here. The proctor, who I noted was not Hayate (the man who proctored the preliminaries) but a man who introduced himself as Gemna. An Anbu used the body flicker technique to come down and whisper something to Genma, who then announced we would be giving Sasuke Uchiha a little more time to arrive. I had no doubts that the only reason we were waiting was because a lot of people in the crowd were looking forward to seeing the last surviving member of the Uchiha clan fight; it was safe to draw the conclusion because the sound ninja was never mentioned.

"Is he going to show up?" Shikamaru asked me quietly, and I knew what he meant by asking me. I glanced around before looking down at the ground, quietly telling Shikamaru to cover me, and after he had shifted in front of me slightly to block anyone from seeing my eyes, I activated the Sakimonagan and had a vision of Sasuke arriving with his sensei in just a few moments.

"Yeah, he'll be here. Late, but at least we aren't waiting for nothing." I told Shikamaru

"What a drag." Shikamaru complained, cocking his hip and placing one hand on it in his normal stance, shoulders slumped. I glanced between us, noting how my head came up to just a tiny bit above his nose, and then watched as Naruto fidgeted. I decided it would be polite to say something, considering we had officially met yesterday and I thought he seemed nice enough.

"Hey Naruto. You okay?" I asked, smiling at him. The blonde looked up in surprise, appearing to not know what to say, before nodding firmly and putting a huge grin on his face.

"Yeah! I'm going to wipe the floor with Neji, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, giving me a thumbs up to go along with his blinding smile. "I've been training hard!"

I cast a glance at aforementioned Hyuuga and noticed he was looking a us disdainfully. I shook my head, I had heard what he had done to Hinata in the preliminaries and so I was not one of his biggest fans currently, not that I ever was. Neji had always been kind of an ass with a stick shoved too far up his rear, but he had taken it too far with the Hyuuga heiress. It would do him good to be taken down a peg by someone like Naruto, so I returned the blonde's grin and wished him luck.

I had been thinking a lot about Naruto lately, actually, ever since his comment to Gaara about how he may act like a demon, but he had the real thing inside him. Was it true? Did Naruto have a demon sealed inside of him, and if so, how did that come to happen? Even though I was insatiably curious about the matter, I resigned myself to waiting until I knew him better to discuss it with him. Even though he had said that so casually, it was a heated moment and I'm sure he had not meant to say it; It would not be fair to push him on such a delicate matter.

My attention was brought back to Genma as a sheepish Kakashi and an indifferent Sasuke finally arrived and the tournament was officially kicked off. The first fight was going to be Naruto vs Neji, and so the contestants who were not fighting were allowed to go to the upper level where we could watch the match progress. I was interested to see the fight between the two, so Akari and I jumped up to where Rafu and Takeshi-sensei were standing and turned to watch the match.

"I bet Neji wins." Takeshi said, eyes never leaving the two shinobi as they prepared to start the match.

"I'll take that bet." I said cheerfully, extending my hand for him to shake. "I think Naruto will, through sheer determination if nothing else."

"Deal." Takeshi-sensei agreed, shaking my hand.

"Do they always make bets?" Shikamaru asked Akari, making me glance at him in surprise; I hadn't noticed he had joined us, yet there he was casually leaning against the railing and looking at Takeshi-sensei and I.

"Yeah, Takeshi has that problem and he got Ren in it as well." Akari sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose before grinning a little. "Never bet against Ren though, he almost always wins. I don't know why Takeshi-sensei still does. I figure he's just a glutton for punishment."

"I can hear you!" Takeshi exclaimed, smacking Akari upside the head with his hand. Akari rolled her eyes, he had barely used any force so it was just a friendly tap.

"Yes, I suppose he has an unfair advantage." Shikamaru mused, looking over at me. I closed my eyes, preparing for the reaction I knew was coming.

"You told him!" Akari and Rafu whisper yelled, whirling on me together.

"Yeah.." I said, rubbing my neck and smiling at my two friends. "I'm actually really glad I did, want to hear the badass name he came up with for the dojutsu?"

The two were having one of their famous silent conversations; it involved only using their eyebrows, noses, and whatever freaky mental connection they had. I say it was freakish but I had absolutely done the same thing with both of them at one time or another. They looked back at me and nodded, so I turned to Shikamaru and beat my fingers on the railing with my eyebrows raised.

"Drum roll…" I said, gesturing for him to be the one to tell them. Akari rolled her eyes again, I will laugh when they get stuck that way, and Rafu looked as exasperated as Shikamaru at my dramatic antics.

"Sakimonagan." Shikamaru said flatly to my friends and Sensei.

"Awesome, isn't it?" I asked, my chest swelling with pride. Shikamaru noticed and quickly averted his onyx colored eyes from mine, rubbing the back of his neck as though he were embarrassed. I could tell how pleased he was that I enjoyed the name so much, it was just buried deep underneath the exterior laziness and bored expression he wore all the time. I just assumed it was too 'troublesome' to project the emotions onto his face at the moment.

"That is pretty good, actually." Rafu admitted, breaking the silence. Akari and Takeshi were both quick to agree and I was going to tell them how exactly the whole conversation had come about when Naruto's match started.

"Finally. You owe me, Sensei." I said with a grin as Naruto burst from the ground and sucker punched Neji, causing him to fall back on the ground. Naruto was declared the victor and I jumped down to the arena before my name was called; I knew my match was up next.

"Kankuro versus Ren." Gemna said, looking up to where the Suna-nin was standing. The Suna genin had paint on his face, much more than the two lines of green that I had, and that puppet was on his back.

"I forfeit the match." Kankuro said loudly, shrugging when he heard the crowd complain loudly because of his surrender. I frowned, wondering what he was playing at, but jumped back up to where my friends were.

"I guess he thought you were scary." Rafu said jokingly, although there was a suspicious look in his eye as well. Why would you get all the way to this point and then just surrender? It didn't make any sense. I could tell by Akari's and Takeshi-sensei's face they were thinking the same thing. My eyes scanned the arena and my eyebrows rose up in surprise when I saw the amount of ANBU operatives in the stands, intermingled with the civilians. True, it was a high profile event, but there was a surprising number of them for something like this. It was as though trouble was expected.

"Be on your guard." I muttered lowly, watching Akari and Rafu nod minutely in understanding. Something wasn't right here, I had a bad feeling about this.

"The next round will be Nara Shikamaru vs Temari." Genma said, and I leaned on the rail eagerly. Shikamaru looked as though he was thinking about pulling out when the Suna girl flew down into the arena on her fan, but Naruto, who was as cheerful and energetic as usual, pushed him into the arena. I stifled a laugh when he landed ungracefully on his back and just laid there staring up at the clouds. I hoped he would not just give up, I was extremely excited to finally see him in action; I was unconscious from chakra exhaustion during the preliminaries and that was the only other chance I'd had.

The girl from Suna was like Shikamaru: she was a strategist. It didn't take her long to figure out how long of a reach his shadow possession jutsu had, and so Shikamaru hid in the shadows of the tree's. My head tilted, wondering what was going on behind those onyx eyes of his, as he closed them and got into what I called his 'planning position'. The girl tried to do a couple of wind releases, making sure to stay out of range of his shadow possession, but Shikamaru got behind a tree in time to not be severely affected; it was a smart move considering the wind sliced the tree all to hell.

"Why is he just hiding?" Akari said out loud as more and more time went by. "He's just sitting there doing nothing."

"He's biding his time." I replied to the brash girl. "Shikamaru has a plan, he's just waiting for the right time. Have you noticed the longer he waits, the lower the sun goes, which means a longer range for his jutsu?"

"Oh." Akari said, comprehending the strategy. It seemed as though Temari had as well, she jumped back to avoid the shadow as it went further than it had previously, and then marked the spot where it landed before having to retreat.

The next thing Shikamaru did was put his jacket tied to a kunai in the air, giving him a small shadow to use as a bridge, extending his range even more. I shook my head, astounded by how the Nara used creativity like that in battle, but it wasn't enough to catch Temari. She hid behind her fan, and just as she was going to stand up and do something, she froze suddenly.

"What happened?" Akari asked, looking at Takeshi, Rafu, and I for an answer. "Why is she stopping?"

"He got her." I said simply, gesturing to the shadow. I was full on grinning now as he explained that he had been maneuvering the sand shinobi towards the hole Naruto had created the entire time, using the shadows underground to finally capture her in the paralyzing jutsu. I was shocked, however, when Shikamaru forfeited because of how low his chakra was and I knew a good part of it was probably that continuing the tournament would be too troublesome for the lazy ninja.

"Nicely done." I complimented as soon as Shikamaru had joined us once again.

"You're one of the only ones who think so." Shikamaru replied dryly, referring to his teammate, Ino, and the crowd who had not truly appreciated the time consuming battle of wits.

"Fuck them, what do they matter?" I said, causing him to smirk at me. "And Ino will get over it. I trust you know what you were doing, she'll come to see that as well."

"Thanks." He said, a genuine smile on his lips now.

"I especially like that it left you without that jacket on; you should go around in just your mesh shirt more often." I said, winking a little bit and honestly surprised at how brazen I was being. I wasn't sure how he would react to it, considering we were actually friends now and he knew I was attracted to him, but he had never brought it up, so I was unsure of his thoughts on the matter.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru sighed, turning away to hide the red staining his cheeks. I grinned, mentally congratulating myself, and I didn't notice the way Asuma Sarutobi was eyeing me a few paces away.

The crowd was extremely energized now that Sasuke and Gaara were going to be the ones fighting; some people, I'm sure, had only travelled as far as they had to see the last remaining member of the Uchiha clan and his sharingan at work. I had to admit, it was an impressive display; the Uchiha was fast, almost as quick as Lee was, and he had obviously used the time to train well. Gaara was no joke either, and soon the arena was waiting with baited breath as Gaara covered himself in a round shield of sand. Sasuke gathered chakra in his hand and started to run down the wall, his hand breaking concrete where it dragged the chakra that sounded like a thousand birds chirping all at once, and it was silent after he struck the shield. His hand had gone through, and after a couple of seconds had passed, everyone heard Gaara's scream of horror about his blood.

"That was an impressive technique." I commented, wondering why it seemed so familiar to me.

"It's called Chidori." Takeshi-sensei said, looking over to me briefly before returning his gaze to the match. "It's a technique developed by Kakashi Hatake."

That was why it was so familiar. I had made a point to learn as much as I could about Rin Nohara and one of the best sources was Kakashi, though he was loathe to talk about her at all. I had seen him practicing that same technique one day in an extremely secluded training ground.

"What's happening in Gaara's shield, can you 'look' and see?" Akari whispered to me, and I looked around casually before obliging her; it wouldn't do for anyone to see my eyes, after all. It was just Akari, Rafu, Takeshi and I standing here now; Shikamaru had been drug off by Ino to get a better view and Choji and Asuma had both followed with Naruto. I activated my dojutsu, turning my eyes towards the floor to hide them in case anyone was watching me.

 _Feathers were falling from the sky, languidly falling with the blue sky as a backdrop. The sun was shining brilliantly and I heard light snoring around me. Confused, I looked around, and saw numerous civilians falling to sleep where they sat in the arena. I saw Sand Shinobi appear out of nowhere, Anbu began to engage them, and I quickly went back to back with Rafu and Akari. What was going on?_

" _We're under attack." Takeshi shouted, launching himself at a nearby sand village ninja. "Protect the civilians and stay safe."_

 _The rest was chaotic; there were shuriken flying around, jutsu's being cast causing gusts of razor sharp wind and roaring fire to meet in air. The entire arena was sleeping; I saw a black barrier being erected by four ninja wearing sound village head gear. I saw houses being set on fire, shinobi lying dead on the street with blood pooling beneath them. The gates of Konoha were destroyed and were haphazardly strewn open, the guards meant to protect it lying dead as well. It was a full scale invasion._

I gasped, snapping out of the horrible vision, and looking up to the sky just as I saw the first feather.

"Genjutsu." I warned Akari and Rafu, not having enough time to explain everything. "Sensei, they are putting the arena to sleep and launching a full scale invasion on the village: Sound and Sand."

Takeshi-sensei cursed, looking around and seeing civilians beginning to fall asleep and cursed, turning to us and ordering us into a defensive position before he was engaged by a sand nin. My eyes followed the fight, none of us stepping in because we knew we would just get in the way. My hands were shaking, so I curled them into fists, feeling my black gloves tightening around my hand reassuringly. This wasn't a test, this was a full blown invasion; these were enemy ninja and they were using lethal force, all of them were likely Chunin level or higher. I deflected a shuriken that was thrown at me, reluctantly breaking rank to engage the shinobi who had thrown it. I slid my headband over my eyes, activating my dojutsu, and the battle was on.

I threw a kunai at the same time he threw one at me, the two weapons hitting one another and spinning harmlessly into the distance. I saw the sand nin used the wind technique great breakthrough, sending a gale of wind my way but it was more deadly than I had ever seen it before. I mentally catalogued that he was most likely a wind affinity before I heard him actually use it, quickly using the earth jutsu I had recently learned and phasing into the ground. I traveled to where he was, grabbing his legs and pulling him down to half way between his ankles and knees, before quickly coming out of the ground. I ducked the tanto he tried to use to cut off my head, feinting as though I was going to knock him out with a blow to the head, before dropping down and sweeping my leg out to his. I heard his shins break as they bent unnaturally and he let out a loud cry of pain. In the moment it took him to open his eyes after the initial shock, I was already plunging my own kunai into his jugular, ignoring the blood spilling out and rolling as another shinobi came to engage me.

I used my hand to block his punches, but he was much faster than me, and very quickly I was on the defensive. I was being pushed back towards the wall and I had to deactivate my dojutsu, the guy wasn't thinking before he made the moves so the future was basically in real time. It would serve me better to just conserve the chakra and face him without the dojutsu. I ducked quickly as he lashed out with a hammer fist, followed quickly by a roundhouse kick that left a dent in the wall my back was almost pressed against. I was about to try straight out tackling him to buy some time when he was suddenly screaming in pain, his back suffering from the fireball Akari had sent his way while he was distracted.

I looked up after I kicked the man away from me, his screams dying out when either he passed out from the pain or died, and met Akari's concerned eyes. I gave her a grateful nod before I jumped over to where her and Rafu were, swinging my bow from my back and activating the Sakimonagan once more.

I tried to find Leaf Shinobi who were about to be finished off or were being dealt particularly bad blows and firing my arrows to their enemies. It usually either killed the enemy or bought the leaf shinobi precious seconds to flip the situation to their advantage. I had killed three enemies so far, trusting Akari and Rafu to watch my back.

Akari was a fierce warrior; she was quick and deadly, barely letting anyone through to where Rafu was waiting to finish off anyone who made it through or cover Akari in case she needed it. Her fire jutsu and my arrows made it hard for anyone to approach us; I was constantly scanning for anyone consciously deciding to attack us, giving Akari the warning or dealing with them myself. We worked this way for a few minutes, I barely noticed when Sakura, Naruto, Shikamaru, and someone I didn't know left the arena. What drew my attention was the nine sand nin that jumped out of a hole in the wall of the arena; I activated my dojutsu again, wondering why they appeared to be running and seeing if I could find out.

 _Shikamaru was using some kind of press to make dog prints and purposefully leaving tracks for someone to follow. I saw him do this for a little while before coming to a rest in front of a tree and patiently waiting. Not long after, eight shinobi wearing Suna hitai-ites appeared ad Shikamaru trapped them in his shadow, smirking a little even as I could see the faint lines of exertion on his face from holding so many enemies. They exchanged words, nothing I could truly make out, and then Shikamaru was hit in both of his knees with a shuriken thrown from a tree. He hadn't accounted for the ninth shinobi; I saw the look of resignation on his face as he prepared himself for the worse._

I snapped out of it when Akari shoved me to the ground, shooting a wave of fire to make the opponent back up as Rafu helped me to my feet. She turned to look at me for a moment, a chastising expression on her face. "This isn't the time to be sucked into your visions."

"It's Shikamaru, I saw him dying." I gasped out, not knowing what to do. I should stay with my team as Takeshi-sensei had ordered but if I didn't go then he would die.

"Go." Rafu commanded, looking at Akari who nodded before going to engage the enemy in front of us before they could approach. I shot a doubtful look at Rafu, wondering if I should really listen to him and abandon Akari and Rafu during the fight. Rafu noticed my hesitation, so he shoved me towards the hole and nodded with a determined look on his face. "We've got this. I'll watch her back; if you can save him, you have to try."

"Alright, I will." I said, nodding in thanks to him. I paused just before I left, watching as he jumped to get behind Akari so nobody could sneak up on her. "Be safe, you two."

"Go!" Akari yelled, rolling her eyes and ducking a blow meant to cut deep into her shoulder.

I left the arena, going as fast as I could through the trees and heading in the direction I had seen the other shinobi go. It was not hard to follow their tracks, they were not being subtle because of how fast they were traveling. I could only hope that Shikamaru would be able to hold them off long enough for me to get there. As I got closer, I slowed down so I could get there without letting any of them know. The best weapon I had was the element of surprise, I couldn't afford to lose it. I approached quietly; I heard Shikamaru telling them that he had just captured them in his shadow and that there was no use fighting it. I knew from my vision where the guy was who threw the shuriken, so I lined myself up where I would be able to shoot him easily with my bow. I pulled two arrows out of the quiver on my back silently, lining up my first shot; I was going to time this perfectly. I had shot much harder targets, it was just about the timing; since I knew when they would be thrown, I already calculated what angle I would need to shoot to be able to stop the attack.

One of the sand nin who were captured by Shikamaru smirked, finally revealing that there was a ninth member who had followed from a small distance just in case of an ambush. I saw his face lose some of its color, his eyes scanning the tree's to try and see where the enemy was hiding. I took a deep breath, holding it for a moment just as the man in the tree threw the shuriken and then I fired it, releasing my breath at the same time. I grabbed the arrow that had been clenched between my teeth to save time, loaded it, and fired directly at the enemy so that i went through his chest and into his heart.

Shikamaru's eyes were wide as he saw the arrow, still quivering and buried in the tree, pinning two shuriken to it as well. I had fired through the hole in the middle of them so that I could get them both and render them useless. His onyx eyes, along with the other ninja who were just as shocked, then moved to the body as it dropped from the tree, dead and with an arrow sticking out of his chest. I could tell when Shikamaru realised it was me because he let out a breathy snort, recognizing the green and white feathers on the arrows that matched the one interwoven in my braid.

"Show off." Shikamaru called out to me, and I jumped down to stand beside him with a smile on my face.

"I like to make an entrance." I told him, smiling in relief that I had made it in time and acting far more brave than I felt. There were still eight other shinobi whose strength us unknown.

"Your timing was impeccable." Shikamaru said, and my eyes were drawn to the bead of sweat gathering on his forehead, the tense way he was holding his shoulders, and the obvious strain he was under from holding this many people in his jutsu.

"Can you release one at a time?" I asked quietly, waiting for him to nod in the affirmative before facing him and pointing to my farthest left. He nodded, and I notched an arrow while I turned the face the group, smiling sadistically.

"Last chance to give up and go back to your desert." I told them calmly, keeping the on in front in my line of fire as I spoke.

"All of you leaf shinobi are going to die." He said back to me, hatred in his voice and I could see he was prepared to see this to the death. I sighed in reluctant acceptance, and aimed my arrow at the guy furthest to the right. As soon as my arrow was on him, Shikamaru released the guy on my left and I shot him through one of his eyes, killing the man before he had a chance to defend himself. The guy on the right's eyes widened: No doubt he had tried moving or rolling away, thinking he would be the one released, and was shocked to see another one of my arrows sticking out of his comrades body.

"Ren." Shikamaru warned, and I watched in abject horror as his shadow retreated back into himself, and the other shinobi grit their teeth in anticipation for their revenge. I saw Shikamaru draw a kunai from his weapons pouch, using a reverse grip to hold it, and I backed up to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, holstering my bow.

"Together?" I asked him, raising my fists and preparing myself. It didn't look like we were going to make it out of this alive; even if they were all genin, it was still seven vs two, and Shikamaru had exhausted his chakra. I'll be damned if I wasn't going out without putting up a hell of a fight and taking some of these bastards with me.

"What a drag." Shikamaru complained, tightening the grip on his weapon, before nodding to me reassuringly. "Together."

"Earth: Seismic shock!" I called out, slamming my fists into the ground and watching as one of Shikamaru's kunai flew over my head at the same time. The enemies scattered, Shikamaru's blade only nicking one of them enough to draw blood. One of them came charging towards us, the others more cautious in their approach, and I lifted my fist to meet his, but someone caught it before it ever reached mine. The first thing I noticed was smelling smoke; then I saw him. Asuma Sarutobi, a cigarette dangling from his lips, and the guy's fist bent away at an odd angle. Asuma kicked the guy to the side after knocking him unconscious, putting his cigarette out on the ground and crushing it beneath his heel, then taking out his two infamous chakra blades.

"Sorry I'm late." Asuma said, smirking a little while he eyed our disheveled appearance from the corner of his eye. "You guys can rest now, I've got this."

Asuma wasn't kidding; he cut through them like they were water clones or something. I mean, they honestly didn't stand a chance and it gave me a whole newfound respect for Sarutobi-sensei. I mean, I knew he was a jonin and the Hokage's son, but he didn't even really break a sweat taking out all those guys. I collapsed, laughing a little hysterically at the narrowly escaped death, and felt the exhaustion hit me. I had used way too much chakra between the fight at the arena, my Sakimonagan, and how fast I had gotten here. I was ready to sleep for a couple of days straight, so I was somewhat glad when Asuma told us we could head back with him. He kept the pace relatively easy, especially compared to the one I had set for myself getting there, and we were back in plenty of time. The sounds of battle had ceased; smoke was rising from various parts of the village, but it didn't look as though there were any fires currently raging. I sighed in relief when I saw Takeshi-sensei standing with Kakashi, both of them talking with grim looks on their faces. I sped up just a little bit, with Asuma and Shikamaru not far behind me, and that was when Takeshi turned to face me. I saw his face freeze for a moment, an inordinate look of grief on his face, before he slowly walked up to me. The smile that had been on my face slowly slid off as the worry set in; something wasn't right.

"Ren." Takeshi said, looking at me with his eyes openly displaying the grief he was feeling. I felt my throat start to tighten up. "I'm sorry, Ren. Akari and Rafu.. they.. They're gone."

I let out a wracking sob, one that felt like it took everything I had left in me; my throat closed for a moment and I couldn't swallow. I started shaking my head, trying to will my eyes to stop the tears that were threatening to spill over. "No. No, you're wrong. Sensei, you're wrong. Not Akari and Rafu, you know how good they are; you're mistaken."

"I'm sorry, Ren." Takeshi said sadly, shaking his head and putting his arms out to me for an embrace.

"Sensei, if this.. If this is some kind of fucking test.. You" I broke off for a moment, a hysterical noise coming out of my mouth; it felt like I was dying, like I was being pushed under water with no air in my legs when I could see the sun and the oxygen that was right there above the surface. "You better tell me right now, Sensei because I.."

Takeshi pulled me into his arms and I cried when I felt him wrap them around my back, holding me tight. I clenched the material of his vest, using it as my anchor because the entire world was slipping away in this moment. My family, the family that I had made for myself; the people who were most precious to me, were dead and there was nothing I could do about it.

I remember being guided, it felt as though I were in a daze, and I gasped softly when I saw their bodies in the arena. I ran to them, cradling Akari's head in my lap and wiping the hair off of her forehead; I told her how sorry I was, how much I loved her. I was left alone; grieving for everything that I had lost that day. It was the three of us there, on the floor, Akari's head in my lap. Rafu and Akari's eyes were closed and their hands were reached out between each other, barely touching fingertips, as though they had wanted nothing more than to be together in death as they were in life. It would take me a long time before I found any comfort in that.

 **A/N: Tell me what you think :(**

 **R.I.P: Akari and Rafu**

 **Review please!**

 **Much love,**

 **~Rache**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

"We are here today to not only honor the Hokage but all of those who gave their lives in the defense of our village; they fought valiantly and their sacrifice will never be forgotten."

I listened with a numb feeling inside; the same feeling I have had since they took Rafu and Akari's bodies away. I couldn't face Akari's parents yet, I only hoped they understood; as much guilt as I felt for not being there for them, I couldn't bring myself to look into their eyes. I wasn't sure if I feared them blaming me for their deaths like I did or if I feared them telling me it wasn't my fault at all. All of the shinobi had gathered to honor the Sandaime; there was a picture of all of the shinobi who had died in the battle on a long table covered by a white cloth. I looked at Akari's photo, the one she had hated so much she had threatened Rafu and I with bodily harm if we ever brought it up. Her hair was out of it's usual low ponytail, wild and curly, and her bunny teeth were on display, as she said.

 _I was sitting alone in a park, watching as the children played and trying not to bring attention to myself; all of the other kids said I was weird. They got scared when my eyes flashed or when I told them something was going to happen, like when a kid almost got hit by a ball while riding his bike until I saved him, but they called me loopy Ren and pulled my hair. I jumped with I felt someone tap my shoulder, and I turned to see another kid with the curliest hair I had ever seen and big front teeth smiling shyly at me._

" _Uh-h-hi." I said timidly, lowering my eyes so she couldn't see them._

" _Hi." The girl said quietly, shifting her feet on the ground uncomfortably. "Do you want to play ninja with me?_

" _Ninja?" I asked, curiosity outweighing caution_

" _Yeah! It will be fun; my Otosan is a ninja, you know. One day I will be too!" The little girl said proudly, puffing up her chest in pride._

" _Me too!" I exclaimed, happy to find someone else who shared my goal. "I want to go to be a ninja and be strong!"_

" _Maybe we can go to the academy together!" The girl said excitedly, clapping her hands together. "My name is Akari - what's yours?"_

I walked up to the picture, putting down the two flowers I had brought - one for Rafu and one for Akari. I wasn't crying, I had no more tears left to give - so I silently stepped away to allow the next person to approach the table. It began to rain, the dark clouds above mourning the unnecessary tragedy that had befallen our village and taken so many of those precious to us. The ceremony was concluding as the council finished up their words of how the village needed to come together in these trying times and how everyone would need to pitch in so we can preserve the village. The sun broke out of the clouds then, shining down on the table for a moment and I smiled sadly. It finally seemed real to me; the last two days had gone by in such a blur and had felt like a nightmare. Akari and Rafu were really gone. I would never wake up to them on the floor of my apartment, I would never yell at Rafu for eating all of my leftovers. I couldn't tease Akari about when she was finally going to tell Rafu how she felt. It was all.. Gone, just memories that I would try to hold on to.

I sighed, going to my apartment and collecting my lute before heading to the memorial stone where I could play in silence. I wasn't sure what was going to happen to me; my team was gone, so would I get another? Would I go into the Genin corps? Why was it so hard to care? I sat down on the edge of the stones platform, plucking the strings of my lute reverently, tuning the instrument until it sounded perfect and began playing my mockingbird song.

 _Warusa bakari no uddopekka_

 _Kyou mo ana ake_

 _Moriboro darake_

 _okotta uddo godo_

 _Kuchibashi wo doku ni kaeta_

 _Komatta uddopekka_

 _Su ana ga doku ni_

 _gohan mo doku ni_

 _Tomodachi ni furereba shinubakari_

 _Kanashinda uddopekka_

 _Doku no namida ga kira kira hikaru…_

* * *

Shikamaru hadn't seen Ren since that day outside of the arena, when he had come to help him with those sand nin. When Ren found out that his teammates were killed, Shikamaru supposed that he had been avoiding company; that's what he would do, as well, if Ino and Choji ever.. It wasn't a thought he wanted to finish. Shikamaru had just left the memorial service and he had seen Ren there, but before he could approach him, the other boy had already left. Standing on the edge of the the crowd that was leaving the service, Shikamaru recognized Ren's sensei, Takeshi, and wondered if he knew where to find the elusive shinobi.

"Takeshi-sensei." Shikamaru said quietly, bowing to the other man. "I'm sorry for you loss."

"Thank you, Nara-kun." Takeshi responded almost robotically. "How can I help you?"

"I was wondering if you knew where Ren was heading after the service." Shikamaru asked, a hint of worry showing on his face. "I wanted to offer him company.. I wasn't sure if he.. I mean, I know he doesn't have any family and I don't think he should be alone."

"That is kind of you, Nara-kun." Takeshi responded, a little bit of the light coming back to his eyes briefly before fading to a more dull state. "I believe he has been spending a lot of time at the memorial stone; if you cannot find him there, I would search his apartment and then there is a spot with a big tree on the outskirts of the village Akari and Rafu" Shikamaru pretended not to notice, for the other shinobi's sake, the way his voice quaver almost imperceptibly on their names "and Ren used to go to a lot. Do you know where I mean?"

"Yes, Takeshi-san. Thank you for your advice." Shikamaru replied respectfully, bowing once more to the man before standing to walk away. The memorial stone was his first destination, so he quickly jumped across buildings to get to the grove where the stone that bore the name of all those who had given their life for the village was. As he came into the clearing, he heard a voice singing a melancholy tune and his heart clenched at the sight and sound before him. Ren's voice was sombre, filled with sadness, and he was plucking the strings on an instrument easily as he sang along to the tune spilling out from the wooden lute in his hands.

 _One mischievous little woodpecker_

 _Another day, pecking your holes_

 _Ruining the woods, tree wrecker_

 _The angry old forest god turned your poor beak into a poison knife_

 _Poor little woodpecker_

 _Your nesting holes are all tainted, your food with toxins rife_

 _Touch your friends, and they all will die falling at your feet_

 _Oh, sad little woodpecker_

 _Poisonous tears, shining brightly, as they stream down your cheeks_

Shikamaru approached him slowly, not trying to hide his presence at all, and sat next to the boy as he continued to sing. Ren had changed his clothes from the normal darker green to a black shirt that hung down to his knees with a slit on each side to allow free movement for his legs. The pants were black and even the boys facepaint was black; anyone could look and see that he was mourning. Shikamaru stayed quiet, even when Ren finished playing the song, and tried not to read too much into the lyrics; was he the woodpecker, poisoning everything he touched? Were his eyes the 'beak'? Shikamaru wasn't sure, but he knew that his new friend was definitely not alright.

"Why do you think people die?" Ren asked suddenly, his voice quiet and withdrawn.

"I'm not sure." Shikamaru answered honestly, never having thought on the subject.

"Akari used to say we all borrowed energy from the earth and that one day, we had to give it back. She says we live on borrowed time." Ren told him, setting the lute to the side and pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them.

"That is as good of a reason as any I've heard before." Shikamaru said, his eyes roaming Ren's face, who was staring out at something only he could see; the past.

"I'm afraid." Ren said quietly

"Afraid of what?" Shikamaru asked, brows furrowing

"I'm afraid of losing myself. If a boat does not have an anchor, it will float away; what do you do when your anchor is cut loose?" Ren asked sadly

"You find another anchor to keep from drifting." Shikamaru said firmly "If you lose yourself, I'll come and find you. I haven't known you long, but leaf shinobi stick together. I can't replace them for you, I can't make you hurt any less, but I can at least be here."

Ren looked at him with wide eyes, shocked and pain filled grey, and then he tentatively put his arm out to give the Nara a side hug. Ren was warm on Shikamaru's side, and Shikamaru paid no mind to the weird feeling in his stomach at the contact, because right now his friend needed comforting.

"Thank you." Ren murmured quietly, knowing anything louder than a whisper would break the calm spell that had fallen over the two. They stayed that way until the sun set, casting its orange and red light on the pair of Konoha shinobi

* * *

"Earth release: Seismic arrow!" I said, doing the hand signs and unstrapping my bow for the twelfth time in a half hour. I needed to be able to do it seamlessly and as fast as possible to not be vulnerable while using it in combat. I had thought the idea up a couple of days before the tournament, but it hadn't been good enough to use then. I had to get better now, I had to become stronger; I had a sound ninja that I needed to kill.

It had all started yesterday; I activated my dojutsu while I was handling Akari's headband, and I saw who had killed them both. I wasn't sure if my dojutsu was becoming stronger or if it was a fluke, I had never seen the past before, but it felt different and it obviously wasn't the future. I memorised his face, trying not to also memorise the bodies of my two dear friends and the terror that I felt inside of the vision, and now I was training as hard as I could. I promised myself I would kill the shinobi who had cut down my friends in our own village, I wouldn't rest until the bastard was dead.

I was still wearing black clothes, the war paint was still black, and the only color that remained was the green of my feather interwoven with my braid and the white and green of the feathers on my arrows. I felt as though it made my appearance sharper, deadlier; It reflected how I felt on the inside.

The point of the seismic arrow technique was for a offensive power that packed a huge punch in a concentrated area. It would leave a big ass crater in the earth when I shot it down and I wasn't allowed to use it on the test dummies anymore; Takeshi-sensei had caught me doing so earlier and yelled at me for awhile because he was the one who would have to replace them. It felt good to hear him yell; it almost felt like old times, but that far off look was still in his eyes and we still didn't know what would happen to us. Would we get two more team members? Would our team be disbanded? Would I get transferred and he get a whole new team? It was all up in the air until the next Hokage was appointed.

I helped with rebuilding the village where I could and then trained for the rest of the time. I hardly ever saw anyone and I was still avoiding Akari's parents; they had only come looking for me once. I had ran away and the guilt was eating me alive, but I couldn't face them yet. Maybe once I had killed the man responsible, but it was not something I could do right now; so I threw myself into work. I couldn't wait for my next real mission; everyone had to step in to help, so I rarely saw Takeshi anymore. I saw Shikamaru for a while the other day, but we hadn't talked very much. His dad was teaching him some new jutsu that he was talking about, but he didn't go into detail about it.

Finally, I got a summons to come to the Hokage's old office inside of the Academy, and I immediately stopped practicing to go see what they needed me to do. I knew it was about a mission and I needed to go on one if I was going to pay rent next month. What I saw when I got to the office and walked through the door surprised me, and suddenly I wasn't so sure this mission was going to be a great idea after all. Surely there were some D ranks around the village I could do?

 **A/N: Short, I know, but I'm trying to think about where I'm going with the story right now; I have a vague idea, but I need to solidify, so I'll do my best to make the next one longer and have it up pretty soon.**

 **I'd love to see more reviews! (hint hint)**

 **Thank you all!**

 **~Rache**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

"Utatane-sama." I greeted the woman sitting behind the desk, bowing deeply as her position on the council dictated I do. In front of the older woman was Neji Hyuuga and Tenten, both looking just as confused as I felt. "How may I be of service?"

"Ah, Ren. We've been waiting." Koharu said, looking my black clothes and my face paint over carefully. "I have a mission for you, and since Rock Lee is currently unable to perform his duties, Team Gai need another member to supplement their squad."

"If that is what you wish, Utatane-sama." I replied respectfully, keeping my voice as emotionless as possible and staring at a spot just to the left of the councilor's head. I was restraining myself because what I truly wanted to do was scream that Neji and Tenten were not Akari and Rafu, that I would rather work alone for the rest of my life than have other teammates who would try to replace them. The rational side of me knew that they were not trying to replace anyone; I was a shinobi, I needed to work with others to complete the mission. I just had to put my personal feelings aside.

I caught the scroll she threw at me deftly, opening it and reading over a few lines to see that we would be leaving first thing tomorrow morning. I tucked the scroll into my pouch, waiting to read it until I was alone, and glanced over at Tenten and Neji who had remained silent thus far. I'm sure Neji had asked if I was sane enough to be on missions currently; I saw how he was tensing his jaw, position defensive, and everything else just screamed uncomfortable. Tenten was much the same, although there were sympathetic looks mixed in as well that I ignored.

They could think what they want; I had passed my psych evaluation with Inoichi-san and been declared fit for duty. I still had to see him regularly, but I could hand a simple C-rank mission without anyone having to worry about me.

"It is an escort mission." Councilor Utatane said, her wizened eyes looking at all of us shrewdly for a moment, evaluating as she paused. She obviously chose not to commit on the tension and continued speaking about the mission. "We need you to escort a Monk to a port near The Land of Waves where he will be picking up an artifact from a temple and taking it back home with him to the Capital. We do not have a jounin to send with you because of the invasion and with how many shinobi we have lost, they are picking up more missions than ever. I trust you to accomplish this quickly and efficiently, Neji will be acting team leader."

Her last words were a dismissal, so the three of us turned and walked out of the office with no further comment. I started to walk away from the other genin beside me but Tenten put her arm out, stopping me, and I turned to face her.

"I'm sorry about your team, Ren." Tenten said sincerely

"Thank you." I replied, my response robotic by this point after so many apologies. "We are to meet at the gate at the first light, correct?"

"Yes." Neji replied, analyzing me carefully. "Do I have any cause to worry that you may be emotionally unstable?"

"No." I said flatly

With that said, I turned and walked away, going to my apartment to make sure my mission bag was still ready to go. I mechanically checked the explosion tags, made sure I had arrows in my quiver, kunai, shuriken, ninja wire, and ration bars. We should be able to hunt, but it was always smart to prepare for the worst. Even though the trip would take a week, I packed for two; Takeshi sensei had drilled into us that the worst was more likely to happen than anything else.

After that I waited, watching out my window as I saw all of the civilians walking past, doing errands or rushing off to do other things. I wasn't sure how I should be feeling; Inoichi-san said that it was normal to feel despondent, to want to throw yourself into work, but the important thing was to remember to live. To not just be on auto pilot and going through the motions, but to actually live; but how could I do that the same way I had before? I wasn't very sociable to start with, so who did I have to talk too? Even thinking about Akari's parents hurt, Takeshi-sensei was in as bad of a place as I was, and I had known Shikamaru and his friends for a month and a half.

Not to mention, it wasn't their responsibility to make me feel better. It wasn't their fault I was so angry all of the time, it wasn't their responsibility that I kept seeing them die over and over again whenever I closed my eyes. I have never viewed my eyes as a curse more in this moment simply for that torture alone; when it showed me how they died. Akari was distracted, Rafu took a hit for her.. Akari was always so hot headed, she saw Rafu go down and she just lost it. I should have been there. I should have saved them both.

I absentmindedly ate something just before I saw the sky begin to lighten up. I was shocked, when had it even gotten dark outside? I couldn't be like this on the mission. I needed to focus, to concentrate. Lives were at stake. It wasn't healthy, it wasn't right, and it wasn't permanent but I forced my feelings down into a tight ball and shoved it into a corner. I could do this.

I picked my mission bag up and slipped out the door, unconsciously reaching a hand out to try the lock. I set a few traps around the inside of the door and the window so that anyone looking to break in wouldn't have an easy time of it. I put the bag on my back and walked towards the gate, the silence in the village oddly peaceful. It was just waking up, birds beginning to sing, and people were waking up to continue the reconstruction of the village. A lot of the wreckage was cleared out already, the blood and weapons gone. There were still holes in walls, parts of buildings that had chunks missing, and a small portion of the wall was being fixed, but we were mending. If only it was that easy to mend myself, I thought.

Neji was already at the gate, which honestly didn't surprise me at all, and Tenten arrived two minutes after I did. The monk, Yaigo, was a large man without any hair left on his head. He had a wagon full of equipment and one horse pulling it. Yaigo was jovial enough, told us good morning when he arrived, and without further ado we headed out. We took up a three man position; Neji in the back, with myself and Tenten on either side of the man. I allowed Tenten to do most of the talking, and there was a lot of it considering we were going the civilian pace even if the man was riding in a wagon.

When we stopped to make camp it had only just gotten dark. Neji made sure that the area was clear with his Byakugan. I began to set the fire pit up so that Tenten could begin hunting for food. Normally we would not risk a fire but since we were so close to the Village, we figured it would be safe enough. Once we had skinned the three rabbits that Tenten had caught, we roasted them over the fire and I quietly listened as Yaigo spoke about how beautiful the temple was that had the relic we were going to be transporting. I think he was uncomfortable with how silent Neji and I were, which indirectly led to Tenten being more silent than usual I guessed, and so he talked to fill the silence about what he knew. I pretended to pay attention, constantly scanning the surroundings, but nothing was out here except for the four of us.

"I will take the first watch." I volunteered, casting my eyes around the forest. I hadn't gotten any sleep last night, and even though I was tired, I couldn't sleep. I wasn't exhausted yet because of the civilian pace and I was hoping after a few hours of watch I might be able to get a couple of hours of sleep.

"Alright. I will take second, Tenten you will take third." Neji decided, taking the least desirable shift for himself. I could understand it, from a leader's perspective, but I hoped he wouldn't always do so. The best option was to rotate shifts, that was what we used to do.

The others got settled fairly quickly and their breathing faded into the background with the sounds of the forest around us. I flipped a kunai in my hand, eyes constantly scanning, and turning on my Sakimonagan every ten minutes or so to make sure nothing was coming our way. My chakra sense wasn't that great, but thankfully my dojutsu almost made up for that as far as knowing when someone was waiting in ambush. Most of the time, I'd get a weird feeling or if I was sleeping, I would unconsciously activate it. That was what had happened in the Chunin exam's, when I dreamed about the ambush on our team.

It wasn't too long before I woke Neji up and went to lay down on my own sleeping pallet, barely a word exchanged between the two of us. I slept fitfully, dreams filled with visions of Akari and Rafu being stabbed by Sound Shinobi. I woke up gasping, Tenten's startled face in front of me and her hand just beginning to outstretch to tap me lightly and wake me up. Growing up as ninja, we knew not to wake one another up or startle each other too bad unless you knew the person very well and they knew they were in a safe environment. I shrugged off the sympathetic look she gave me, wiped the sweat off of my face, and packed up my gear so that I was ready to go. The next few days were much of the same, traveling and constantly looking out, but even Yaigo was silent most of the time now.

"Yaigo-san, what is it that we are getting, exactly?" I asked him, my curiosity getting the better of me. I felt Neji's gaze on the back of my head like a spotlight. He had been skirting what it actually was when we had originally asked, and so none of us pressed the issue, but considering we were within a day's reach of the village I wanted to know how likely we were to be targeted. "Is it valuable?"

Yaigo sighed, looking resigned, and began to tell us about the object with reverence in his voice. "We call it the Tear of Mahira, the goddess whom we worship, and it rests at the temple by the ocean. Every four years, two of us must bear the Tear to the main temple to complete an ancient ritual that's purpose is known only to the children of Mahira."

"Where is the other person?" Tenten asked, breaking the small silence Yaigo's sentence had induced.

"The bearer awaits us at the Temple by the sea and will accompany us on the second part of our journey." Yaigo replied

"Do you suspect someone will attempt to take it?" I asked, eyes narrowing in contemplation at how much danger we should expect to find.

"I do not believe so." Yaigo replied, looking for all the world relaxed. "It is merely a precaution that we hire Shinobi. We have ran into bandits in the past on the road, and since we can spare no more of our own, we hire outside help."

"I see." I replied, relaxing a little. It seemed simple enough; get the Tear, take it to the temple, and hightail it back to Konoha.

We traveled in silence for the rest of the day, only stopping for a quick break once, and I could smell the salt in the air before I saw the ocean for the first time. It was truly breathtaking; I could hear sea gull, calling out to one another as they circled the beach, and the Temple was an impressive structure that cut a picturesque image with the deep blue background where the sky met sea. The Temple itself was not quite large, maybe the size of the Academy, but it was made of sturdy stone and was up on a cliff with a winding path leading to it. The stone it was made out of was white and seemed from this distant smooth; the Temple had high walls and the only thing we could see was a spire poking out from the top of the wall.

"This is home." Yaigo said fondly, flicking the reins in his hand and beginning to hasten the pace we were going. I sped up to match his speed, faltering for a moment as I got an itching feeling on the back of my neck. I glanced back to Neji, doing the standard Konoha sign language to tell him that I felt as though something was off. I heard Neji quietly activate his Byakugan, and then felt as he jumped in front of the carriage quickly afterwards. I pulled my bow off my back and strung an arrow, eyes scanning the perimeter and waiting to hear what he saw.

"There are people fighting the monks in their." Neji told us quickly

"What?" Yaigo asked, anger and fear inflected in his voice.

"There are many bodies. We must enter with caution." Neji said, gesturing for us to move forward but at a slower rate. The Temple doors were busted open, we saw, as we rounded a corner from the winding path and finally got a look at what Neji must have seen. Two bodies were laying, blood pooled around them, and they had on the same robe-esque clothing Yaigo had on.

"No! Aniki! Kiesu!" Yaigo shouted, jumping from where he sat on the wagon with a devastated look on his face. He ran to the bodies, ignoring our warnings not to rush off without us, and fell to his knees beside them. The three of us took up defensive positions around him as he mourned his friends.

"Neji, where are they?" I asked impatiently, eyes darting to find anyone.

"There are four shinobi further inside the walls, and it looks like they are fighting with the monks. There is a fifth shinobi who is behind the monks lines, but they appear to be fighting the other shinobi with the monks." Neji replied

Yaigo lifted his head, a determined flash coming across his eyes. "We must get to the Tear. Yuna was a shinobi once, she is who was chosen to bear the Tear."

"Is there another way into the monastery?" Neji asked, his Byakugan activated. "It appears to be some kind of route in the back."

"Yes, there is another way to leave; they must be trying to leave but were caught before they could." Yaigo responded, looking as though he was ready to charge ahead.

"Tenten, you go with Yaigo around the back." Neji ordered, glancing over at his partner. "Get the monks out, and the Tear. Ren and I will distract the unknown shinobi while you escape."

"Alright." Tenten agreed, following behind Yaigo as he dashed out of the gate we were standing in and went around the side of the Temple.

"I'll lead the way; I'll do a frontal attack, you support with the bow. We should try to drag the fight away from them." Neji said to me as we walked up the stairs and opened a door that led to a large hallway, which branched off into three different ways and was made up of the same smooth, white stone as the rest of the building.

"Alright." I agreed, moving just behind Neji as he lead us confidently through the halls. I heard the fighting before I saw it; throughout the walk here, there were a few bodies scattered around with kunai and scorch marks on them.

We finally came upon the other ninja from the rear and Neji charged in with his Juuken, hitting one of the shinobi with a devastating blow to the lower back that almost made me wince. The shinobi crumpled to the floor and I knew he wasn't going to get back up after a hit like that. I strung an arrow, took aim, and fired on one of the ninja. It was a glancing blow, but got the attention off the monks as they realised they were being attacked from behind. I fired another one, and one of the ninja charged towards me as Neji engaged the other two. I saw lightning flare out from the enemies hand as he came at me and I ducked, swinging my bow across my back as I did, and activated my dojutsu.

I leaned back to avoid another hit, and kept evading his attacks as he sent out a rapid taijutsu combo. He was extraordinarily fast and I knew if it was a battle of stamina I might not win. I was two moves ahead of him though, swinging under the kunai he was holding in his hand to attempt to cut me and sweeping his leg out from under him. I glanced towards Neji and saw his fight was going alright, but I could tell he was tiring.

I moved to my left as I felt my opponent lash out at me, giving a fierce yell as he did so, and I jumped before going into a roll and turning around to face him again with my Sakimonagan deactivated. He was a few feet from me, keeping a bit of distance, so in the blink of an eye I whipped my bow out and strung an arrow, my eyes narrowed in concentration before firing the shot. The ninja dodged the arrow easily, smirking at me as he advanced, only faltering when he heard one of Neji's opponents cry out. I smirked back before I sprinted towards him with chakra enhanced speed, using my bow as a bludgeon, and kicking out at him when he blocked it with his arms. He jumped back, throwing a couple of shuriken at me before doing a few quick hand signs. I activated my dojutsu again, trying to see what he was going to launch, but I was too late as I felt the lightning in my feet. My knees buckled and he launched at me, and I used a replacement jutsu to switch with some pedestal that was a little further down the hall we were in, closer to Neji.

"Guys, we're clear." Tenten called out, throwing a few of her weapons at one of the enemies facing Neji. I glanced back, seeing the guy I had been fighting running towards me, so I used my ground shockwave jutsu to make the earth shake under his feet, startling him as it cracked. I turned and ran to my team, pulling my bow off my back and sending an arrow back at the guy as I reached their side. As a unit, we began backing up into the room that led to the exit. The three shinobi who were standing, none of them with headbands on to identify them, were in the hall still, regrouped and facing us. I had an arrow strung, wondering which one of them I should aim for, when I glanced up and changed direction.

"Doton: Seismic Arrow!" I called, channeling my chakra into my bow and releasing it, feeling the string sing as the arrow was released. It hit above the door, causing it to cave in, and the three of us retreated out of the Temple.

"We need to get them far away from here." Neji ordered, glancing at the few monks still alive, Yaigo, and the first woman I had seen here who was wearing the same robes as them. This must have been Yuna, the one who was going to take the Tear to the Temple.

"..They came out of nowhere. We were defenseless." Yuna was saying, gesturing towards the injured monks to emphasize her point.

"We need to get moving." Neji said as we approached, Tenten and myself flanking him on either side. "They won't stop for long; only one of their comrades are down for now and they may wait until he is awake again to re-engage, but we need to use the time."

"They can't move!" Yaigo said, glancing over the injured monks.

"He's right, Yaigo." Yuna said, looking at us for the first time. "I think if I leave, with the Tear, they will be safe. That is what they are after."

"I will come with you." Yaigo said, eyes focused on Yuna,

"You have to stay here with the others, my friend." Yuna said calmly, placing a hand on his shoulder and looking at us warily as she said the next part. "We will move faster without you. I will not be alone."

"We need to leave now." Neji said again, byakugan still activated as he kept an eye out for our enemies.

Yuna said goodbye to Yaigo, and glancing back one more time before we left the beach where we had spilled out onto, the four of us sprinted down the beach, heading south. Yuna directed us, saying we would have to go down the beach for half an hour before there was a forest nearby we could use to travel in. Yuna was silent for the most part, and I did a quick visual scan to make sure she wasn't hurt; she was bleeding from a minor wound on her arm, but it was nothing serious, so I didn't mention it. We came upon the forest that she mentioned soon and we traveled by jumping tree's for a few hours, trying to put as much distance between us and the enemy as we could. With any luck, they wouldn't have a tracker and we could lose them. None of us were that optimistic, it came with being shinobi, but it would be quite lucky if that was the case. The problem was that they knew where we were going with it, so they could potentially set an ambush up, if they got their faster since we did have to go the longer route to avoid another confrontation and try to lure them from the monks.

When it got too dark to see clearly, we made a cold camp. There was no fire, just the four of us with our pallets in a circle. Yuna volunteered to help with watch, but Neji told her to sleep because she would need it. She looked as though she was going to argue, but Neji pretty much stared her down until the protests died on her lips and she nodded, laying down on her pallet. I got the second shift this time, Neji the last, and Tenten the first. I had forgotten I got the crappy shift tonight, Neji ended up doing it on a cycle, and I groaned a little bit at the thought of waking up and then having to go back to sleep only to be woken again. Not the shift you wanted after a battle and traveling all day at high speed; My chakra was pretty low. I ate a ration bar and laid down, attempting to get as much sleep as I could before my shift came up.

 **A/N: This was a struggle to write.. I hope everyone likes where this goes. It took me longer than I expected to come up with a mission for them to do, but this is something that needs to happen. Let me know how you like it :)**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

I was woken up for my watch promptly when Tenten called my name softly. I murmured a quiet thank you and she merely nodded, going to her own sleeping pallet and curling up to get as much rest possible. The first hour of my watch was uneventful; much like any other time, only the sounds of the forest around us to keep me company, until Yuna woke up and got on her knees with her head bowed. I spoke her name aloud but she ignored it for a moment, her hands clasped tight together as she mouthed words I couldn't hear.

"Yuna." I called again softly, eyebrows furrowed. She rose, her dark blue hair falling from its braid and her eyes focused in my direction.

"I apologize." Yuna said softly, coming to sit beside me. "Prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken."

"Do you really think that they deserve it?" I asked, thinking of how I felt about Akari and Rafu. I don't think I could pray for their murderers, even if I was religious, and I know she must have been close with some of the monks because of the look of pain on her face as we left the beach.

"Not for them." Yuna replied, head bowed "For me."

"You think you are wicked?" I asked, surprised at her answer.

"I have done many awful things in my life before I knew Mahira." Yuna said, regret tinging her voice. "I repent every day for the actions of my past."

"Is that why you quit being a Shinobi?" I asked, wondering if I was treading on unsteady ground. She had been the one to bring it up, but I wasn't sure how she would react to the question.

"Yes. I was a shinobi of Kirigakure, the Village Hidden in the Mist." Yuna said, a far away look in her eyes.

"What happened?" I asked, wondering what kind of event could turn a ninja into a monk, to undergo such a drastic change.

"My husband and my children were slaughtered along with their entire clan for having a Kekkei Genkei." Yuna said, her voice only slightly unsteady. I froze, not knowing what to say to her, and imagined that kind of mindless violence just for.. Being born.

"I'm sorry." I told her sincerely

"Who have you lost?" Yuna asked me, turning to face in my direction with her legs crossed.

"I-how do you know I've lost anyone?" I asked her

"You carry a great pain with you. It hangs over your chakra like a shadow." Yuna replied, eyes meeting mine.

"My team. I wasn't there for them when they needed me and..they are gone now." I told her, eyes downcast. "I don't wish to speak of this."

"I apologize for bringing up a sore subject." Yuna told me, standing slightly and walking over to where she had been sleeping. "I'll leave you to your thoughts."

I wished her easy rest and thought on the conversation, her words echoing in my head until it was time to wake Neji up and go back to sleep. When I dreamt of Rafu and Akari this night, Yuna's words echoed in the background as I watched them die and when I awoke, it was in a cold sweat with Yuna's knowing eyes burning into the side of my face. I ate a ration bar and mentally shook myself, focusing for the upcoming day of travel and the potential of danger from the unknown shinobi. We packed up camp quickly, and were tree hopping once again to get to the temple as fast as we could.

"How far away is the temple?" Neji asked, using his Byakugan to scan the area as we traveled.

"Two days journey away at the current pace we are going." Yuna replied, the grown woman in her late twenties easily keeping up with the three of us.

"Do you know who those shinobi were?" Neji asked, a frown on his face

"Not personally, although I believe they were missing nin from a village." Yuna said "I did not get the best look at them as we were fighting."

"How high is the chance they will be able to ambush us?" I asked her, calculating our odds in my head even as we ran.

"They would be able too if they traveled fast, there is a canyon a half day away from the temple. That is where I would set up if I was to ambush a party coming this way, and they might be able to get there in time." Yuna told us after she thought for a moment "It just depends if they manage to catch up to us. We took the longer route, but they may not be faster or know the land as well as I do."

"We will be cautious. Please make us aware when the canyon is approaching." Neji commented, and silence followed. We traveled in relative silence after that, trying to go as fast as possible while still making it there battle ready. I didn't dare enhance my muscles with any more chakra than I was currently if we would end up fighting in the near future.

The day was uneventful, we made camp in the woods once again. There was open fields for most of the way left in front of us, so we camped at the forest's edge to not be in an open spot. We divided the watch rotation up into four this time, although I doubt Neji would sleep while Yuna was on watch. Every now and then I could see the almost distrustful look he would appraise her with, not that I could blame him. It was in our nature to be suspicious of Shinobi not of our village, and she definitely fit in that category, regardless if she was technically our client as a representative of the temple.

The night was much of the same. I was getting used to the silence surrounding Tenten, Neji, now Yuna, and I. It was unsettling and awkward at times, but I think it would have been worse if we tried to force casual conversation. The involvement of the shinobi brought the mission grade from a C to a B at least, but none of us considered abandoning the mission. It wasn't even brought up as an option, which didn't surprise me. Neji didn't seem like the type of leader to get scared off, especially when we had come out mostly on top during the last confrontation. I almost felt as though we should be more suspicious that these ninja were after the Tear, and if they knew it was being moved, why not wait to strike until it was on the road traveling? I voiced these thoughts out loud to Tenten, and she said that they might have known we had been hired and didn't want to confront enemy ninja. I could see her reasoning, but something still felt off to me.

Yuna told us we were two hours out from the canyon and we slowed down slightly, all of us had been more on edge ever since we left the forest but now we were downright hyper-aware of our surroundings. I kept activating the Sakimonagan every ten minutes to see if anything was coming, going down to every five minutes when we got closer. I realized that Neji and Tenten didn't know that I had a dojutsu at all, and I considered whether or not I should tell them. I had kept it a secret for so long that a big part of me was loathe to say anything, but I knew if I actually saw something I would need to come clean. It wouldn't be optimal to say something after I saw it, knowing they would question why and how when we wouldn't have time, but was it worth the risk of saying anything in front of an unknown like Yuna? It wasn't a common dojutsu, not that any really were, I just knew no one else who had the same on as myself. That was when the vision hit me.

 _The canyon had just come into view and the group slowed down, cautiously scanning the ridges . I could see why Yuna expected this to be a place someone would use in an ambush; the ridges gave good cover and had the added benefit that the ambushing party would automatically get the high ground. They would lose the element of surprise if they were here though, thanks to Neji's eyes; well, that was the hope at least._

 _We crept through the canyon, in a basic triangular defensive position around Yuna, and our eyes were constantly scanning. It took longer than expected to get through the canyon, but when we saw the end my muscles relaxed just a little. With luck, they had not been able to make good enough time to reach a point where they could ambush us; hopefully, we were ahead._

 _I saw Neji tense just as we exited the canyon, which gave way to a small clearing before turning into woods once again. He called out a warning just as shuriken were launched from the foliage of the forest from a couple of directions, perfectly timed. I drew my bow and -_

"-en!" Tenten said, shaking my shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, still sorting through the information. We were going at a slow pace, still faster than a civilian but far from our top speed, but I knew the canyon had to be close.

"Your eyes were ice blue for a moment. What was that?" Neji asked sharply, never faltering but his voice tainted with an unspoken accusation.

"I don't have time to explain, but the ambush is going to happen as soon as we get clear of the canyon." I said hurriedly, hoping they would listen. The canyon was within eyesight now. "There are woods on the other side, they are waiting there and are going to throw out shuriken to split us up before engaging."

"How-?" Tenten trailed off, looking to Neji for guidance on what to do.

"Are you sure?" Neji asked seriously

"Yes." I replied, voice steady and serious.

"Can you form an earth wall so we don't have to separate to dodge?" Neji asked me, slowing the pace down as he thought of a strategy.

"Yeah, but I should be in the lead and we should tighten up. It won't be that wide." I responded, thinking about the wall I'd be able to make without doing too much damage to my chakra levels.

We entered the meadow from my vision and I saw Neji tense, I was ready though and quickly went through the hand seals before slamming my hands into the ground, hearing the thunk as shuriken hit the slab of earth I had raised from the ground.

"Incoming, two on the left, two on right, one is heading down the middle." Neji told us just in time, for a minute later there was no more time to talk. The four of us burst into action as the enemy shinobi made themselves known. One of them did leap over the wall and I used my bow to block the kunai he was using to cut down towards me. His momentum carried him behind me and I did a swift sidekick which he blocked. Neji had engaged the two on the left while Tenten and Yuna were fighting one opponent each on the right.

I did an axe kick, following up with a jab and a hammer fist as the man dodged my moves, I activated the Sakimonagan, and ducked when I saw he was going to use water bullets. I followed up with two kicks, trying to get behind him, but it was the same guy I had fought before and he was fast. I threw a couple of kunai at him but it was only a clone, then ducked as I saw him pop up behind me a couple of seconds before he actually did. I rolled to the right, but quickly back peddled as Tenten's opponent blew a stream of fire out of her mouth. I rolled quickly just as the guy I had been fighting punched where my head had just been, leaving a small dent in the ground, and performed a kip up to get back on my feet.

"Bukujutsu: Volley of Death" I cried out, string my arrow and letting it go. It was the only genjutsu I knew; I sent my actual arrow towards his throat, but the illusion made it seem as though there were at least twenty arrows coming at the target from my one. It confused them a lot of the times, but I wasn't surprised when he used a replacement jutsu. He gave the one arrow that was lodged in the wood beside him an ironic look before sneering at me.

"I won't fall for that again, worthless brat." The man goaded me, charging towards me. Just as he got close, I saw him coming in for a feint before attacking my left side with a kick, he must have changed strategies because as I was going to block the kick that was coming, he pulled it slightly and flung a kunai in my exposed side. I grunted in pain as I felt the blade pierce my skin and the man grinned malevolently at me, showing off sharp yellowed teeth.

I felt a brief flash of panic and deactivated my dojutsu; This was how Akari always won during our spars. She would change strategies at the last second, not giving me enough time to physically react to the action, which basically made the dojutsu useless. I could see it, but wasn't fast enough to do anything about it. A dangerous way to fight, without a plan, but effective against my bloodline.

I used one of my arrows to stab at the guy as though it were a knife, attempting to jam it in his throat, and he kicked me in the rib which jostled the kunai already sticking out of me and sent me flying backwards. I groaned, clutching my ribs and curling in on myself a little as I attempted to breathe normally. The other shinobi loomed over me and grinned down maliciously, killing intent filling the air leaving no doubt as to what his next move would be.

"Any last words, brat?" The man asked, smirking in victory. The clone on the ground dispelled as I rose from the ground behind him, stabbing an arrow through his neck and hopefully hitting his spinal cord.

"If you are going to kill someone, kill them." I said through gritted teeth as I twisted the arrow. "Don't stand around talking about it."

I kicked his body forward so it hit the ground just as I heard him gurgle through the blood no doubt filling his lungs. It would not be an easy death, but I could not dredge up any kind of mercy for the man now. I jumped over to Neji's fight, slamming into one of his opponents. With me there to take on the other man, Neji easily overpowered the second one now that he could focus his attention on one. Once Neji had taken care of his opponent, he came towards me and mine; that was when we heard the explosion and Tenten call out Yuna's name.

Neji hit the guy in front of us hard, dazing him, and I quickly snapped his neck before dropping the body. We both turned to assess the situation with our teammates, but saw Tenten standing in front of Yuna facing against one of the other ninja. Neji and I leaped into action, with him easily taking out the last man who tried to face the three of us at a time, and before his body had hit the ground, Tenten was by Yuna's side.

It wasn't a pretty sight. Her robes had been torn and blood was staining them; there was a large gash on her chest just under her breasts and it looked as though some shrapnel had gotten lodged in their. I later found out that the other guy had used a explosive tag in a desperate attempt and when Yuna stepped the wrong way, she got the brunt of the damage from it. Yuna's breathing was erratic and she coughed, a wet sounding rattle that didn't give much hope for her chances. I clinched my fist around my bow tight, knuckles white, and looked to Neji to see what he wanted to do.

"We will carry her. Maybe they will have a healer, we are only a few hours out from the Temple." Neji decided, coming to Yuna's side.

"Tenten and I should carry her." I suggested, looking at Tenten to see if she disagreed. "You have the best eyes and are probably the strongest of us, if there are more, you need to have hands free."

"Alright, let's move as fast as we can." Neji said, conceding my point before looking at Yuna. "Is the tear safe?"

Yuna nodded, still trying to catch her breathe which was only coming in as wheezes. The next few hours of travel were tense and we went as fast as we dared too; It said much for Yuna that she was alive when we finally reached the Temple, because she was on death's door and she was fighting for her life for the last few hours. Neji told me to accompany Yuna after a monk had taken the bag containing the Tear from Yuna. He and Tenten were going to report what happened to the person who was in charge at the temple, while I stayed with Yuna as she was rushed off to the healing ward of the stone temple. The younger monk who was waiting for them when we rushed in worked fast, cutting off the robe around the wound precisely and already beginning to pick out the shrapnel with some kind of tool in his hands.

I was directed to wait outside in the hall while they worked, and so I paced for a long hour, hoping she would make it. I don't know why I cared, I barely knew this woman, but I wanted- no, I needed her to live. I knew it most likely had something to do with Akari and Rafu, that I was projecting how I wanted them to be alive and how I wished I had been there to help them onto this woman I had met only a few days ago. I couldn't help the way my heart clenched just a little when I saw the solemn look on the monk's face when he came out to get me.

"She..She wants to speak with you. We've done everything we can." The monk said, gesturing for me to come into the room once again. What I saw didn't surprise me but it wasn't pleasant in the slightest. Yuna was pale, covered in sweat, and as I approached the bed on her right side the cough that I heard could only be described as a death rattle. It would most likely not be long until she died from the wounds. She reached out to my hand, grasping it with surprising strength, and I squeezed back to offer some kind of reassurance for what little good it might do.

"I'm sorry." I told her solemnly, my gray eyes catching her slightly glazed over dark ones.

"D-don't feel sorry for the dead." Yuna said, a coughing fit interrupting her words. "Feel sorry for the living. I'm going to see my family again."

"The tear is safe. It's here, the monks have it." I told her, desperate for her to know that it wasn't in vain; we had made it and her mission was fulfilled.

"Goo-" Yuna coughed, blood welling up at the corner of her mouth before she continued. "That's good. I have to- I have t-"

I squeezed her hand again, letting her know I was here as she rode out another round of coughs. It sounded as though she was choking on her own blood and I didn't realize what the wet was that fell on my hand; it took me a moment to realize I was shedding tears, as my eyes blurred slightly. I wiped them away, partly because I knew a shinobi should not cry as I had been this past week or so, and also because I didn't know her well enough to cry for her. For some reason, I couldn't help the immense sadness that filled me with her impending death though; she had been trying to turn her life on a different path, one without violence and death, but still will die young as often Shinobi do.

"Mahira, mistress of inscrutable depths, I ask forgiveness. Mahira, whose waves wear down stone and sand." Yuna said reverently, a far away look in her eyes as she prayed to her god. She developed a coughing fit and the monk beside me spoke up, opening up a book to read from it to finish what I assumed was a prayer.

"Would you join me in praying, Shinobi?" He asked me, gesturing to the page in the book. Even though it made me slightly uncomfortable, I nodded as I felt Yuna's eyes one me, and so I stood next to the priest and read with him.

"Mahira, wash the sins from this one and set her on the distant shore of the infinite spirit." The monk and I read, and after that one line I felt her grip beginning to loosen. I stopped saying the prayer, eyes wide on this stranger lying before me dying. The monk continued to read from the book with the same reverence Yuna had. "Mahira, this one's heart is pure, but full of wickedness and contention. Guide this one to where the traveler never tires, the lover never leaves, and the hungry never starve. Guide this one, Mahira, and he will be a companion to you as he was to me."

She took one last rattled breath, her lips tilting slightly upwards toward me, before her hand was slack in mine and she passed on to whatever waited her on the other side. I bowed my head, waiting in silence for a moment, before turning to the monk.

"Why.. why was the last line he, instead of she?" I asked him, my voice quiet.

"Yuna had already asked for forgiveness for the lives she had taken, Shinobi." The monk said, gripping me on the shoulder before setting the book down and covering Yuna's body with a sheet. "Her wish was for you."

I let his words sit for a moment before I turned and left the room, my body on autopilot as I navigated the halls back to where we had first entered the compound. I asked a monk to direct me to where Neji and Tenten were, and I bowed my head when I saw the man they were reporting too. He exuded power in an odd way, with an almost unassuming aura of it around him like a badge of office, and he expressed his sorrow for the lives lost at the temple by the sea and the life of Yuna. We stayed at the temple for one night, and we were silent during Yuna's funeral, her body burning. I stared into the flames, thinking of Akari and Rafu. I stayed staring until the pyre's flames were just hot coals, barely glowing in contrast to the darkness that had befallen. I didn't sleep that night, holding my own sort of vigil for Akari, Rafu, and now Yuna. Thinking over her words, thinking about my life with my two teammates, my friends, my family. I was in the same spot when Neji came to fetch me the next morning, telling me to eat a quick breakfast because we would be leaving for Konoha in fifteen minutes. I barely acknowledged him, turning my back on the ashes of the brave woman I had met, and a small smile touched my lips. I truly hoped she was with her family now; if she was.. Maybe, just maybe, I could be with mine again one day.

 **A/N: I think I like this chapter, but I want your honest opinion; did it seem a little rushed? I tried not to make it seem that way, but somehow I still kind of feel as though it is.**

 **Thank you to my favorite Reviewers, you guys seriously encourage me to write like no other! I'd also like to say thanks for the amazing response I've gotten for this story. It has been almost a month since I began writing it and now I have:**

 **Views: 3,012**

 **Visitors: 908**

 **Reviews: 29**

 **Follows: 58**

 **Favorites: 41**

 **Thank you so much! Please let me know what you think ;) Even constructive criticism!**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

It was a peaceful journey back to Konoha. I was honestly shocked that neither Neji nor Tenten had asked about how I had known about the ambush, but I hoped it just meant they forgot about it. Currently, I was debating whether or not I should ask them to keep it a secret and just tell them - I wasn't sure I wanted it in the mission report's if they did remember. After a lot of deliberation, I decided to keep it to myself unless asked directly about it - depending on who asked, I could try to come up with a believable lie or maybe would tell the truth. I wasn't one to be trusting by nature, with the way I had grown up, especially with this secret and how the Sandaime was loathe for it to be common knowledge.

Though Yuna had died, I felt a little bit lighter after completing a mission and after speaking with Yuna, getting to know her as little as I had. I resolved myself to talk with Akari's parents when I got a moment when we entered Konoha. I had avoided them long enough, and running from problems solves nothing - I believe confronting my fear will alleviate some of the strong emotions that I'm experiencing. Well, that was what I was hoping, at least. We checked in at the main gate, showing our ninja ID's to the guards, and made our way to the mission desk to inform them the mission was completed and would most likely need to be increased from a C-rank to a B-rank because of the enemy shinobi we had fought. The reconstruction of the village was well on it's way by now, and civilians were flooding the streets, everything seeming almost back to normal. There were still places undergoing repairs, but for the most part it was nice to see that the village was on its way back to being normal - well, as normal as a hidden village could be.

We used to roofs to get to the administration building and walked up to the desk manned by chunin to get the necessary paperwork and fill it out. We filled out our mission reports in silence as a team, using an empty table pushed to the side, and filled out the portion that was used to describe why the mission should be upgraded in rank from what it was initially categorized as. Overall, it was boring, but it was what you had to do in order to get paid what you were owed. We submitted the documents and I split off from Neji and Tenten with a goodbye and a promise I would see them around. I had a new appreciation of Neji, as far as a comrade, but I still thought he was a bit of a stuck up jackass. The first thing I did was swing by my apartment and put my mission bag neatly in the closet, wrote a note the remind myself to pick up more ration bars when I went out for food next, then I gathered my courage and headed to Akari's house. I stopped in front of the familiar building, my chest tight, and knocked lightly. Part of me wished that no one would be home to answer, but sure enough the door opened to revealYama.

"Ren.." Yama said, sounding surprised and with a hand over her mouth.

"Hi. I..I'm sorry." I said, hands in my pocket and staring up at her with a grief filled expression. I wasn't sure exactly what I expected, but it wasn't to be wrapped up in her arms unable to breathe because of how tight she was holding me.

"I am so glad you are here. We have missed you, Ren-chan." Yama sobbed, crushing me in her arms and letting the familiar smell crash over me. "Don't be sorry, it wasn't your fault. I thought.. I wanted to see you so bad, to make sure you were okay and that we didn't lose three children that day."

My heart clenched hearing her still calling me a son in her eyes. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her tight and apologizing for avoiding her. I didn't cry but I felt my eyes moisten as Yama cried softly into my shoulder. They only time I had ever cried was over Rafu and Akari's deaths, I don't think I ever would again. We stayed in the doorway for a long moment, finding comfort in one another until finally Yama pulled away and wiped her eyes with the apron she was wearing.

"Come on in, Ren-chan. Akio will be glad you are here." Yama said, smiling sadly at me and then calling for her husband while I took a seat at the dining room table.

Akio was a proud man, a good shinobi, an amazing father and husband. He was tall, had brown hair that was cut short and covered by his hitai-ite bandana. Akio was a special jounin of the village, he specialized in infiltration which was incredibly rare for a man to do. Most infiltration experts were kunoichi because women could often get places men could not without being noticed. Akio was the one who went to the Hokage when he first heard about my unique gift, after he got me to demonstrate it for him, and was also the one who offered his home to me in my time of need after talking with his wife. I felt ashamed I had avoided them when they came looking for me, I felt ashamed that I couldn't protect his daughter, and I felt ashamed that it was as hard to look into his eyes as it was.

"Ren-kun." Akio said, commanding my attention instantly. "You are here."

"Yes, Akio-san." I replied quietly

"I've told you to call me Otosan, have I not, Ren?" Akio asked me, coming forward to place his hand on my shoulder and give me a reassuring squeeze. "You are my son, in every way except biology. Nothing will change that. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Oto." I said, finally raising my head and meeting his eyes. He had a sad smile on his face but I could see the truth on his face at his words. Neither of them blamed me for their death, which had me reeling in confusion. I should have been there.

"Yama, dear, may you go make us some tea?" Akio asked his wife quietly, and then sat down at the table next to me, waiting until his wife was in the kitchen and unable to hear us until he spoke again. "What happened, Ren?"

I told him everything. I told him about my stupid crush on a boy who I barely know, I told him about the vision I had seen during the fight, about how I had rushed off to save him, and about how I found the bodies when we got back into the village. Akio was silent throughout the whole thing, his face expressionless, not giving away anything until I finished the story. As I did, the silence that hung between us was meaningful, but I wasn't sure why.

"Can I ask you some questions, Ren?" Akio asked me, his lips twitching because he knew normally I would tell him that he just had but the smartass comments had left with my spirit.

"Of course, Otosan." I said firmly

"Did you have a vision of Akari and Rafu dying?" Akio asked, bluntly

"No!" I exclaimed, shocked

"Did you know leaving them was going to result in their deaths?" Akio asked with his voice level

"Of course not!" I almost yelled, vehemently shaking my head

"Do you know for certain that if you had stayed, you would have been able to save them and not, instead, gotten killed yourself?" Akio asked

"No." I said quietly, beginning to see what he was doing.

"Did you do everything in your power as a shinobi of the village hidden in the leaves to protect our village and the people inside of it?" Akio asked, an eyebrow raised at me.

"Yes." I said even more quietly this time, head bowed.

"The way that I see it, you being able to save that boy meant that one of my children, at least, made it out alive." Akio said, reaching under my chin and forcing me to look up into his eyes. "I don't blame you for Akari's death, neither does Yami nor anyone else. So why do you, Ren? How do you think Akari would feel right now if she saw you?"

"She would kick my ass." I said, my voice shaking a little at the thought of my friend. "She would say that she was glad I made it out alive and that now I had to live twice as good of a life since she had to live through me now."

"Exactly." Akio said, smiling at me, this one not tainted with sadness but infused with love. "It hurts bad right now, I know that, but with time it will hurt a little less. Getting up and getting to work will take less effort. Smiling won't feel so awkward. You'll get there, but until then, you keep your head up. We have too much to do to pity ourselves. Right?"

"Yes, Oto." I said, smiling at him just as Yami came back into the room with tea. I ended up staying for dinner that night, all of us talking about some of the more rambunctious things Rafu, Akari, and I had gotten up too from when we were in the academy to just before the Chunin exams. They asked about my last mission and I told them about it in detail, about the woman of faith who had turned away from her village because of the wrongs they had committed. I told them how much strength I thought that must have taken, to have your whole family taken away and then to walk away from the people who had done it in order to find a better way, a better life and how it inspired me to come talk to them when I got back into the village. When I walked home that night, I was still hurting. Even though my heart was still heavy, I had to admit that it did feel a little lighter. I felt just a little better, maybe not enough for anyone to notice, but it was enough for me. When I played my lute that night, I thought about Rafu and Akari and I smiled, promising them that I would always remember them and tell anyone who would hear about the heroes who died serving our village the best way they knew how.

* * *

"Hey." I heard a familiar, raspy voice say from above me. I glanced up, squinting when the sun got in my eyes, before glancing around the house that I had half repaired and jumping up onto the mostly finished roof. I hadn't seen Shikamaru since that night at the memorial stone, I had kept meaning to go by and say hello, but I had thrown myself into helping with the village repairs after my talk with Akio.

"Hey, how are you?" I asked, wiping the sweat away from my face and grabbing a drink of water while I was up here.

"I'm good. I was just seeing what you were up too, I tried to find you last week but they said you went on a mission." Shikamaru remarked casually, while his eyes glanced down to the now green paint on my face instead of black. I was still wearing black clothes, but I had decided that I needed a little something of the old me.

"Yeah, with Neji and Tenten." I said, nodding my head. He looked the same as he always did; His hair up in his pineapple-esque shape, the short jacket that had the Nara clan symbol on it, and the mesh underneath it.

"Good one?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It had to be upgraded to a B-rank, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle." I told him honestly. I really had not, during a single spot during the mission, thought that we were in over our heads or that we many not make it out. Neji was strong, level headed, and a good leader; It was hard to freak out when your leader was so calm. "Neji is a good team leader, no injuries or casualties for us."

Shikamaru made some kind of noise in his throat that sounded like he was satisfied with that knowledge. I gave him a weird look and opened my mouth to say something about it, but decided against it pretty much instantly. We had just gotten to the point where we were friends, no sense in pushing barely there boundaries already.

"So, did you need something or just stopping to chat?" I asked him, stripping off my shirt and smirking a little when I saw his eyes flicker down to my bare skin and linger there for a moment. It was hot today, but I had done that just to get a reaction out of him, and it would be an understatement if I said I was not satisfied with the result.

"I wanted to know if you wanted to come by the compound sometime. Maybe we could play Shogi or cloud watch or something." Shikamaru asked in the form of a statement, his cheeks flushing a little red when he noticed I had been watching him stare at my chest.

"I'm always down.. For something." I said, winking suggestively and making him cough in surprise. I'm not sure why he was so shocked, beating around the bush wasn't really my style and I was pretty forward about my flirting in the exams. Granted, that was probably a little more dirty than anything else I had said to him.. Oh well. What's done was done.

"You are so troublesome." Shikamaru groaned, rubbing his neck and looking up at the sky with a 'why me' expression on his face.

"It's not my fault you are so handsome." I replied cheekily

"Stop." Shikamaru mumbled, groaning again and briefly covering his face with his arm. I don't think it was so much that he minded what I was saying but that people didn't compliment him on anything other than the strategies his big brain comes up with.

"Maybe YOU should stop, Shikamaru!" I said, poking him playfully and then ducking out of the way as he swatted half-heartedly back at me with his hand open. "If you keep groaning while we are alone on the roof and I don't have a shirt on, people will get the wrong idea. Not that I would mind, of course."

If Shikamaru was red before, I'm pretty sure that his face just invented a new shade of it because I had never seen anyone go that color from embarrassment before. I liked teasing him because it was so easy to get a reaction, like blushing, out of the otherwise unflappable guy. I mean, he was confident and laid back enough that nothing really got him worked up except when I was so forward with him. I think it was because he didn't quite know what to make of it, either because no one had ever complimented him like I originally thought or maybe he wasn't sure if I was serious.

"Sorry, sorry." I said, putting my hands up and relenting. The goal wasn't to make him extremely uncomfortable, just a little bit out of his comfort zone; I didn't want to push the Nara too far. "I would love to come play Shogi sometime soon, maybe tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, that works. I'll tell my Mom. She wanted to see you again anyway so expect to stay for dinner." Shikamaru mumbled, his hip cocked with his hand resting casually on it as his face returned to its normal, tan color.

"Free food? I wouldn't miss it for the world." I said, smiling at him brightly and feeling my stomach churn with success when he smiled back in return, showing off his teeth briefly.

Shikamaru jumped from the roof after that, telling me what time to show up to his house tomorrow, and then going on his way to meet up with Ino and Choji to get their own part of Konoha to repair. It wasn't glamorous work, but helping repair the village and the talk with Yama and Akio had really helped me a lot. I felt a little bit like my old self, especially when I was just teasing Shikamaru, and I had hope that things wouldn't be bad forever. The sun was finally coming out from behind the clouds.

 **A/N: Sorry it took so long to update (well, longer than normal for me) but I really needed a break from Liability. I still kind of do, so it might be slow going for a little while unless I get really inspired, but I will still try to update at least once every week (maybe more, maybe less. Depends on my life, schedule, inspiration, and reviews ;))**

 **On a side note, I wrote a Harry Potter story about my OMC Jasper Tatham that I'm quite fond of right now, so I totally encourage you to check that out if you are an HP fan.**

 **Also, for any of my stories, I have always wanted to have fanart done by someone.. so if you are creative, awesome, and want me to love you forever, make me some! If there is something I can do for you in return, like write a story about something, with a specific pairing, or as a you based OC, just let me know!**

 **Much love,**

 **Rache**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

I walked down the street, casually observing the civilians as they moved around the streets, and patted the small, carefully wrapped package in my pocket for the fifth time to make sure it had not fallen out. I was on my way to Shikamaru's house and I had made sure to bring a gift for his parents as a thank you for inviting me to the household and to dinner, no matter how casual Shikamaru had been about the invitation.

I nodded to the guard standing in front of the Nara compound and he responded in kind, informing me to wait for a moment for Shikamaru to come and get me. I was not waiting very long when he appeared, one of his hands in his pocket and standing with a little bit of a slouch as usual. I shifted a little uncomfortably as he stared at me for a moment, his eyes trailing down my body and back up to my face, causing me my neck to feel warm.

I had decided to forgo my shinobi clothes today because I was going to be meeting both of his parents, his mother for the second time, and so I was wearing a dark red shirt with intricate designs along the side and black pants. My face didn't have my normal paint and I had even changed the feather in my braid to a red color to match the shirt - all of which, the clothes and feather, were Yami's idea. She had also helped me pick out a gift for the two Nara's because of how nervous I was. Normally, I'm not one to fret over stupid things because it was a waste of time, but one of the people I was meeting is not only the jounin commander, but also a clan head.

"You look different." Shikamaru commented, stepping aside to let me pass him and enter the compound proper.

"I do." I agreed, walking beside him and wondering if I had overdone it. I hope his parent's didn't think I was weird. I had decided to put the whole crush thing on the back burner for now and just try to be friends with Shikamaru. Which I could totally do. He was just a friend that I happened to think was extremely cute.

"It's.." Shikamaru said, looking like he didn't want to say the wrong thing and thinking it over. "It's nice to see a different side of you."

"Thank you." I said, smiling at him and looking in front of us as we arrived at his house. "Are you ready to lose at Shogi?"

"As if." Shikamaru said dismissively, smirking at me. "I won't blame you if you want to forfeit now though."

"You wish." I joked, elbowing him a little bit and feeling the apprehension leave my body at the familiar banter between the two of us. Standing here, as I took of my shoes and followed Shikamaru to the back where a Shogi board was already sitting on a table, I don't know why I was so nervous to begin with. We both sat down in front of the board, with him choosing to be white and leaving me with black, we began to set the board.

The first game lasted an hour and Shikamaru won, although I did make him work for it. I could tell he had enjoyed our match because his eyes were lit up in interest instead of in their normally half-lidded state. That and the fact that he instantly challenged me to another game. The second game took a lot longer, both of us being more careful and thinking about our moves more. As tempting as it was, I didn't use my Sakimonagan to cheat even though at one point during the last game he had given me permission to do so - although I think it was in jest, because what fun would it be if I could see what he was going to do? Even without my dojutsu, I had an astute ability to anticipate my opponent's moves. It was easy for me to put myself in someone else's situation and think about how they would do something instead of how I would. So, with me carefully evaluating my moves and his, we were now almost two hours into our second game. Neither of us were really in the lead, it was about even, but the game was at a crucial point. It was the longest game of Shogi I had ever played and it was fun just because Shikamaru was so challenging. He made moves I wouldn't have even thought of because he was thinking so far ahead and so I had to adapt to be thinking that far as well. I wasn't nearly on his level of strategy, but I was proud that I was holding my own regardless. We were both concentrating on the game so much that I was surprised when a voice spoke up from my left, where the door to the house was. It had been a long time since we had spoken at all so it was jarring for the silence to be broken and I tensed automatically even though the voice was quiet.

"Looks like a good game." Shikaku Nara said softly, observing the two of us through dark eyes that reminded me of his son. I could see a lot of Shikamaru in his face, actually, and in the lackadaisical way he held himself. I wasn't fooled, he was an elite jounin after all, I knew he could spring into action at a moment's notice but he had an effortless relaxing manner about him that I admired. His scars were only a little intimidating but it was counteracted by the easygoing manner he had about him and the warmth I could see in his eyes as he watched his son. It took me a moment to notice that he had an eyebrow raised at me in a silent question.

"He does that sometimes." Shikamaru said enigmatically, making me shift my attention to him and found him looking at me with his lips quirked upwards.

"I do what?" I asked indignantly, not sure if I should be offended or not.

"Stare." Shikamaru said, a full blown smirk coming onto his face now. "And get lost in your thoughts. You do it pretty often."

"Oh shut up." I grumbled, moving one of my pieces on the board and freezing as I realized I had told my host's son to shut up right in front of him. Yami would flay me alive. Thankfully, Shikaku laughed instead of getting offended and it made me relax a little bit. I did, however, stand up and bow to him. "Thank you for allowing me to visit your home, Nara-sama. It is very beautiful."

"Ah, call me Shikaku." Shikaku said, scratching the back of his head a little bit and waving. "We aren't big on formality here and there are too many Nara around to call me by my clan name anyway. You must be Ren, right?"

"Yes, Shikaku-san." I replied, looking at Shikamaru from the corner of my eye and wondering what he had told his father about me. Shikamaru was looking at the board steadily, giving it his full concentration, and I was torn between going back to the game and continuing the conversation with Shikaku - it wouldn't do to be a rude house guest.. But it was a really good game.

"Go ahead." Shikaku said, gesturing to the board game with a smirk that once again reminded me of Shikamaru. "I'll watch."

"Thank you." I said, turning my full attention back to the game.

I was right that it had been a critical point - Shikamaru stole one of the pieces key to my defense, but by doing so he walked into a trap I had set up. I sprang it on him only to realize he had a trap of his own that somewhat negated the effectiveness of my own. The game lasted for another hour but Shikamaru ended up winning that match as well. I sighed when it was over, considering asking him for a rematch, but his father spoke up.

"How long did you two play?" Shikaku asked his son, glancing between the two of us.

"First game was an hour. This one lasted three." Shikamaru said, a satisfied smile on his face as we cleared the pieces and put them back in the bowls.

"Impressive match." Shikaku said, nodding to me. "I know firsthand how hard it is to play against Shikamaru. Asuma usually only lasts a couple of hours and that's his best game, so to go three is impressive."

"Thank you, Shikaku-san." I said, humbled by his praise and feeling my cheeks warm up a little bit. I internally sighed, wishing I didn't show physical signs of my embarrassment as much as I did. It was particularly bad around Nara's, apparently.

"I like playing with Ren." Shikamaru told his Dad, shooting me a somewhat fond look. "He's challenging."

"I see." Shikaku said, appraising me with his eyes and making me a little nervous. I couldn't tell what was going on behind those eyes and that always set me just a little bit on edge. "Well, Yoshino sent me out here to tell you both dinner is ready and to wrap it up. I'm surprised she hasn't come to fetch us all yet. Ready to eat?"

Shikamaru and I both agreed, padding behind the older Nara and following him into the dining area where Yoshino was just beginning to set food onto the table. I offered to help, but she declined, telling me to take a seat and pour myself some tea while she brought the rest of the food into the room from the kitchen. Then she nudged Shikaku hard with her foot, asking him to help her with some of the dishes and making me grin at the almost petulant look he gave her. I sat beside Shikamaru, glad that we were going to be eating because I was surprisingly hungry even though I hadn't trained at all today, and we began talking about the match we had just played, comparing strategies and going over our thought process for certain parts of the game. When Yoshino and Shikaku had brought all of the food into the room and sat down at the table, I reached into my pocket to pull out the present Yama had helped me pick out.

"Yoshino-san, Shikaku-san." I said, bowing my head politely as I offered the package wrapped in a rather lovely and expensive green and white that Yama had decided would look good. Those were kind of my token colors anyway, considering it was what I wore all the time and the same color as the feathers on my arrows and in my hair the majority of the time. "Thank you for inviting me into your home and allowing me to dine with you tonight. I brought you this and hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed my time here today."

"Thank you, Ren-kun." Yoshino said, accepting the gift and putting it to the side. It was rude, Yami had explained, to open a present in front of someone that wasn't a close relative or friend. So they would most likely set it to the side and wait to open it later. She had also told me not to give it to them right away because it might suggest I was overeager and trying to rush through the experience of being here. By the end of her tangent on gift giving, my mind had been swimming because I never knew there was so much involved. "You are too kind. I'm glad you have enjoyed our home."

With that being said, we began eating. The food was absolutely delicious and I made sure to inform Yoshino of this. Throughout dinner we mostly talked about some missions I had done in the past, I asked questions about their medicine research but making sure to not overstep my place, and various other things. When dinner was finished, Yoshino waved away my offer of clearing the dishes and began to do so herself, leaving Shikaku, Shikamaru, and myself sitting at the table.

"So, up for another round?" Shikaku asked us both, raising his eyebrows in a challenge.

"Both of us against you?" Shikamaru asked, smirking a little bit as he exchanged a glance with me. I nodded, saying I was absolutely willing to play a game of Shogi against the Jounin Commander of all people. Even if I did have a sinking suspicion that we were about to get thoroughly beaten - I shouldn't have counted us out just yet though, knowing how clever Shikamaru was.

"Yeah, sure." Shikaku said, standing up and stretching a little bit.

"Can we use every advantage we have as long as we don't cheat?" Shikamaru asked him, the smirk still firmly planted on his lips as he eyed his father. Shikaku's eyebrows rose in silent surprise, then his eyes narrowed suspiciously before he slowly nodded, agreeing to the admittedly odd terms his son had laid out. I, however, knew exactly why he had phrased it that way - he wanted me to use my Sakimonagan so we could beat his dad.

"Set the board up, I'll be out in a minute." Shikaku said, still eyeing his son a little distrustfully before going to, presumably, tell Yoshino what we were going to do. As soon as he left the room, Shikamaru turned to me with a slightly pleading expression on his face.

"I haven't been able to beat him yet, I've come close but not actually beaten him. I want to see his face when we win, please? We are going to need the Sakimonagan. You don't have to but it would be pretty awesome." Shikamaru practically begged

"I don't know." I said doubtfully, wondering if it was a good idea. "Do you think it's a good idea?"

"He won't tell anyone." Shikamaru said confidently "Not if we tell him not to after we win. I know he won't."

"Uh.." I thought about it. Shikamaru seemed confident Shikaku wouldn't go around talking about it and it would be honestly kind of funny. I had trusted Shikamaru pretty easily and I didn't not trust the guy, I mean he was the jounin commander, but the Sandaime had told me to keep it a secret for a reason. I debated for another moment, taking in the look Shikamaru was giving me, before sighing and agreeing to do it.

"Yes!" Shikamaru said, showing more enthusiasm and energy than I had ever seen him show before. Then he hugged me, kissed the side of my cheek, and grabbed my hand to pull me to the back door and where the Shogi board was set up. I dazedly let him drag me, looking at where our hands connected us, and feeling my whole face light up red from where his lips had touched my cheek. It had been worth it, I decided, absolutely worth it.

Even though I was a little confused by the gesture and it pretty much ruined my whole 'I'm just going to be his friend and ignore my crush' thing, I just went with it. The little bubble of happiness that I could feel in the area around my stomach was rare and precious, I wasn't going to ruin it by overthinking and analyzing Shikamaru. I'd be happy with whatever he wanted to do, I realized bemusedly, even if he just wanted to hold my hand for the next year and a half. I will admit I was a tiny bit disappointed when he dropped my hand to set the pieces up, us being black and Shikaku white, but I shrugged it off and sat beside him, our knees brushing up against one another and sending a warm feeling throughout my leg. Shikaku came out just as we finished setting the board and took a seat opposite of us, giving us a lazy look and making his first move after thinking for a moment. That was when I activated my dojutsu and my normally grey eyes turned into the icy blue that let me see into the near future. Shikaku's eyes widened a little bit, looking between Shikamaru and I, and Shikamaru just gave him a smug smirk.

"He's going to go for an edge attack first, then attempt the dangle his pawn on the most left side." I advised Shikamaru, who nodded at the information and glanced at his father whose mouth was hanging open a little bit in amazement at what I had just said.

"How-?" Shikaku said, stunned for a moment before looking at his son's smug face and sighing. I think he was realizing that he had been set up. Shikaku, to his credit, smirked a little bit as well and then leaned forward to take a look at my eyes. "Interesting."

The match was still pretty amazing. Shikaku was a brilliant strategist and I could tell why everyone called him and Shikamaru geniuses. I had said the first bit of what he was going to do out loud to try and shake him, but the rest of the information I whispered in Shikamaru's ear as the game went on. We both strategized quietly but for the most part I was supplying information and Shikamaru was the one planning our own moves, I kept silent unless Shikamaru asked me for my opinion. I knew when I was out of my depth and I wasn't ashamed to admit when I was either. We won the game though. It was still incredibly close considering we knew what he was going to be doing practically throughout the entire thing, but there were a few moments when something slipped through the cracks. It happened more and more frequently as the game progressed and I think he was figuring out that I could only really see things when he planned them out, but impulsive actions left me blind. (I wasn't entirely comfortable with someone knowing how to counteract the Sakimonagan that I didn't trust implicitly, but I had already committed so I tried not to worry about it.)

"Congratulations, kid." Shikaku said, shaking his head at the both of us before smirking at Shikamaru. "Doesn't count though."

"I know but it was still fun." Shikamaru said, then explaining what they were talking about when he saw the confused look on my face. "Dad promised he would buy me a Shogi set that I've wanted for years the day that I beat him. It's really expensive and really awesome."

"Oh." I said, understanding replacing confusion. That was actually pretty cool, it made my heart clench just a little in jealousy at how obviously close the two of them were, but I shook it off before I lingered on it. I was happy with who I was and how my life had turned out, jealousy was a useless and unattractive emotion to harbor.

"That is a neat trick you have." Shikaku said, his eyes analyzing my now normal grey orbs.

"Thank you." I replied a little sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly and shooting Shikamaru a significant look that he didn't miss.

"Yeah, yeah." Shikamaru said placatingly, rolling his eyes but doing what he knew I wanted him too. "Ren wants that particular trick to not be talked about.. Ever. So, I told him you would be able to keep a secret."

"Ah." Shikaku said, looking at me with a carefully blank expression on his face. "Who all knows?"

"Shikamaru, obviously, as well as Takeshi-sensei. My surrogate parents as well. The Sandaime knew and is the one who advised me to keep it pretty quiet about it until I was older." I said, hesitating a moment. "Neji Hyuga and Tenten may also suspect, of Team Gai. We had a mission recently and I had to use it then."

"Okay." Shikaku said, obviously thinking before just outright agreeing to not saying anything. "Unless it is detrimental to the wellbeing of my family or the village itself, I won't tell anyone without your explicit permission."

I thought about it for a moment, going over what he said in my head. He wasn't agreeing to never talk about it, which I had kind of expected and that was why I had been nervous, but he wouldn't unless it was for a really good reason which was probably the best I was going to get out of him. "That is acceptable, Shikaku-san. May I make a request?"

"Sure." Shikaku said, looking at me with interest.

"If time permits, I would appreciate being told before circumstances force you to reveal it to anyone. Additionally, if not told prior, I would request you inform me of anyone who knows after you do tell them." I requested, hoping I had not stepped over any boundaries. It sounded okay in my head.

"I can agree to that." Shikaku said, nodding his head and grinning somewhat lazily at me. "So, you see the future?"

"I see many futures, Shikaku-san." I replied, smiling in relief. I think it was going to be fine having him know about the dojutsu, I wasn't in danger or should be on my guard. Also, maybe he had heard about the unique ability before and would have some idea of where it came from although that was most likely wishful thinking. "The future changes based on circumstance and the decisions of others."

"Makes sense." Shikaku said, nodding a little as if I was only confirming a theory of his. It honestly made me shiver a little to think he had deduced what my gift did and a decent method to counteract it all within an hour, but I pushed my discomfort aside once more. "So, if I decided to throw a kunai at Shikamaru and then did it, you could see it. If I just impulsively decided to throw it with no premeditation you wouldn't?"

"Basically." I confirmed, nodding my head.

"That is useful." Shikaku said contemplatively. "What is it called?"

"Sakimonagan." I said, making Shikamaru snort a little and me to shoot him a grin. When I noticed Shikaku's questioning look I elaborated so he would understand the interaction that just happened between his son and myself. "Shikamaru came up with a name for it. I don't know what it's really called."

"Future eye, huh?" Shikaku said wryly, lips twisting up a little as he looked at me. "Well, good teamwork you two have at least. You know your strength and weaknesses and didn't let your pride get in the way of victory."

We spend the next half hour going over the game between eachother, talking about various strategies and crucial points in the game. Afterwards, I thanked both Yoshino and Shikaku for inviting me over and allowed Shikamaru to escort me to the front gates of the compound. The sun had set not too long ago and I was extremely content. I was full of delicious food, my brain had gotten a lot of exercise, and today was a lot of fun.

"My parents like you." Shikamaru commented casually as we came to the front gate and he leaned up against the wall.

"That's good. I was worried they wouldn't." I admitted, tugging at my red shirt as if to emphasize my point.

"You had no reason to worry." Shikamaru said, rolling his eyes good naturedly. With the light hitting his face and casting half of him into the same shadows he manipulated, I decided to be more bold than I usually was. I had flirted, jested, and messed with him a lot but I hadn't ever asked outright because I was afraid of the answer. I think I would worry more about not knowing at this point, so I spoke up and my voice carried easily in the quiet of the night.

"And do you like me, Shikamaru?" I asked, stepping just a little bit closer. I watched him as he froze, a tiny bit of red dusting his cheeks for a moment, before he composed himself again and resumed his relaxed stance. He did, however, push off of the wall and step closer to me as well - making my heart pound a little harder, my hands to unconsciously clench a little more, and causing me to swallow reflexively as he got closer. It was the closest he had ever stood to me, so close that I could count his eyelashes individually if I wanted. I could feel his warm breath ghosting over my cheeks and I had to look up just a little bit to look him in the eyes while in this position. He leaned forward and I closed my eyes, not daring to move or say anything, hardly daring to breath. I felt the slightest touch of pressure on my lips, the feel of soft lips being placed delicately against my own, and then he was backing away from me. I sighed a little bit, disappointed and content at the same time, and opened my eyes to see him smirking at me lazily.

"I tolerate you." Shikamaru said, causing me to laugh at having my own words from that day we had decided to be friends thrown back at me. I was glad he remembered them and it gave me a warm feeling I couldn't begin to describe even if I wanted too.

"I tolerate you as well." I said, shaking my head at him and turning to head towards the gate. "Goodnight, Nara. I'll see you around."

"Yeah, see you around." I heard him reply quietly

I had a dopey smile on my face when I fell asleep that night and I wasn't surprised to still see it plastered on when I woke up the next morning. I needed to get it together and not walk around with a crazy, dopey smile though or people were going to think I was either an idiot or a maniac. I touched my lips, remembering the barely there pressure of Shikamaru's lips.

' _Eh, who cares what people think anyway.'_ I thought, walking out the door to visit Yami and Akio, the smile still spread out for the world to see.

 **A/N: It is not saying that I have updated even though I have, so sorry everyone for that. I'm trying to get to fix it but no one is responding so I'm kind of at a loss on what to do. Regardless, here is a nice, fluffy chapter for you all to enjoy :) Let me know what you think with a lovely review! :) More coming soon!**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

"Here you are, Ren-chan." Yami said, laying down a bento box on the table beside the chair I was sitting in while reading a scroll. I had been staying at the Hospital when I wasn't training or sleeping, waiting beside Kakashi's bed for him to wake up. Yami looked from me to Kakashi's prone figure with disapproval in her eyes. "I don't know why you stay here, by him. Would he do the same for you?"

"Okaasan." I said, frowning back at her. "If it wasn't for Kakashi-san and Rin-san, I would not be able to sit next to anyone even if I wanted too. He just.. Doesn't know how to act around me. Too many bad memories. Besides, he doesn't have anyone else to be here besides Sakura and a couple of Jounin."

Yami didn't say anything, although she didn't have to because the look in her eyes and the words she had spoken before had said plenty. She left soon and I returned the the scroll I was reading about battle tactics and strategy. It was an interesting piece of writing and some of it could be applied to Shogi, which was part of the reason I had gotten it, so that I could possibly beat Shikamaru the next time we played. Smiling a little, I touched my lips with my hand as I thought back to that night a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't been able to see Shikamaru since then because of both of our training schedules and a mission he had been given. Clan training with his father was taking up most of his time and then the rest was team training. He had left me a message at my apartment though, saying he hoped we could get together soon, and I had left one at his house with Yoshino-san to give to him when he returned from his mission. A noise out in the hallway interrupted my thoughts, it was a loud and excitable voice that was coming down the hallway - it sounded like Naruto, but he had been gone for at least three weeks, when had he gotten back?

Naruto burst through the door, his signature orange almost as bright as I remembered it, and behind him he dragged a woman who was wearing a green haori over her tunic and had a jewel in the middle of her forehead. She looked a little exasperated at Naruto's antics but her golden brown eyes framed by brown hair were fond as she looked upon the young shinobi. It was hard not to like Naruto with his sunny disposition and everlasting optimism, even if he could get a little annoying sometimes.

"Alright granny Tsunade, heal Kakashi first." Naruto said, coming to a stop in front of his bed before noticing me sitting beside it. "Oh hey Ren! I didn't know you knew Kakashi-sensei!"

"Yes." I replied absentmindedly, my eyes on the woman he had just said was going to heal Kakashi. "Did you say Tsunade? As in, the Sannin Tsunade, the legendary medic-nin?"

"Yeah!" Naruto said, before looking puzzled. "How do you know her?"

I looked at Naruto, wondering how any shinobi from Konoha could grow up not knowing who the Sannin were, before bowing low to Tsunade. "Tsunade-sama, it is an honor. Thank you for coming to help Kakashi-sensei."

"She's going to be the next Hokage!" Naruto added in, making my eyes widen and Tsunade to hit him over the head.

"Brat! You can't just go around telling people that, there will be an official announcement!" Tsunade said, rolling her eyes and going over to Kakashi with her hands glowing green with medical jutsu. It took a few moments but Kakashi's eye, the one that was unbandaged and without the sharingan, opened after weeks of being closed and he blinked blearily at the light from the room.

"Kakashi!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning widely. "Okay, Sasuke next! Come on granny Tsunade!"

With that, Naruto led Tsunade and another woman with short, dark hair down the hall to where I knew Sasuke Uchiha was staying. I only knew that because Sakura had told me when she was visiting Kakashi and it was where she spent the majority of her time. Kakashi looked a little dazed but he tensed up when he noticed me sitting by his bed. I lowered my eyes from his one, gathering my scroll and the bento box Yami had left, before getting up silently and walking towards the door. Just before I reached it, I hesitated and turned back around, laying the bento box on the table beside Kakashi.

"Get well soon, Kakashi-sensei." I murmured, leaving the room before he had a chance to respond, feeling his one eye burning a hole into my back the entire way out. I went to the training ground after, I had been trying to train harder in Ninjutsu, but had spent too much time in the hospital lately and my training had therefore suffered because of it.

"Guess that won't be a problem anymore." I muttered to myself, slightly miffed with the reaction I had gotten from Kakashi and with Yami's words floating around my head. Regardless of the petty emotions, though, I was mostly just glad Kakashi was up and about instead of lying prone in the white bed, his breathing the only sign of life from the man. It was always strange seeing someone like that, a strong ninja who most everybody looked up too, in a bed injured. It reminded me of how mortal people truly were, as though I needed a reminder after what had happened with Akari and Rafu. We had thought we were invincible and look where it got us. I sighed, stringing my bow and pulling an arrow back as I practiced the seismic arrow technique.

* * *

I was walking across a bridge on my way to my apartment from Yami's house where I had been visiting with her and Akio for an hour or so. Tsunade had been instated as the new Hokage and it seemed like the village was beginning to heal. I still thought about Rafu and Akari often, and even though it hurt, sometimes it didn't hurt quite as bad as it did. The wound was healing, I suppose. While I was lost in my thoughts, Shikamaru jumped down from a nearby roof into the street ahead of me and I grinned a little when I saw him, glancing down almost shyly thinking about the kiss we had shared, but when I looked up and saw the serious expression on his face any shyness was gone.

"What's wrong?" I asked instantly, moving forward a little faster.

"No time to explain. There's a mission, we have to get the others before I explain so I only have to once. Ready?" Shikamaru asked, looking at me seriously. I nodded and together we jumped up to the nearest roof and began jumping across them as fast as we could. Shikamaru was slightly ahead of me, leading the way, and I followed with my thoughts racing through what could the mission could be. It was obviously important if Shikamaru looked as serious as he did. It took me awhile to notice but we were heading towards Naruto's apartment. The two of us arrived in front of the door at the same moment, Shikamaru knocked on the but I rolled my eyes, opening it and walking in. The door wasn't trapped, which was strange for a ninja but this was Naruto. We found him lying on his bed, spread out and drool coming out of his wide open mouth as his snores filled the room. I shook him awake and stifled a chuckle as his eyes opened, blearily taking in Shikamaru and I standing in front of him.

"Wha's goin on?" Naruto asked, a yawn interrupting his speech.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and looked like he was going to say something before glancing at me and seemingly shrugging to himself. "Sasuke left the village to join Orochimaru, we need to stop him. We only have twenty five minutes to find everyone else we need and get going."

I stared at him in disbelief but it didn't compare to the way Naruto shot out of bed. "What?! You have got to be kidding!"

Shikamaru closed his eyes, pressing a finger to his ear, and I cringed at the loud shout Naruto let out at hearing what the mission was. Shikamaru looked at him with dry exasperation, taking in Naruto's blue pajamas and ridiculous sleeping cap. "You just woke up, and you're already this annoying?"

Naruto didn't seem to hear him, glancing down for a moment, before shoving us out of his room unceremoniously. "Hold on a second! I'll go get dressed!"

The door shut and I exchanged a wry look with Shikamaru, wondering if bringing him was such a good idea, but I didn't question it because I'm sure Shikamaru had his reasons. I used the time to look Shikamaru over, taking in his new Chunin jacket, and thought that it fit him really well. In fact, he looked really good.

"Thanks." Shikamaru said, smirking at me. I looked back up at his face, startled, and felt heat begin to come over my cheeks. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but maybe now isn't the time, yeah?"

"Shut up." I grumbled, not believing that I had said it out loud. What the hell was wrong with me? I should be way cooler than that. I WAS way cooler than that. What was it about this guy that made me a complete idiot? I didn't have anymore time to think on it though because Naruto's door opened and revealed him, in his bright orange eyesore of an outfit, with a big smile on his face. The three of us promptly left his building and headed to the next location, following Shikamaru's lead.

"So, besides me and Ren, have you come up with any other top notch guys to ask?" Naruto questioned, glancing between us as we ran down the streets of Konoha.

"A few." Shikamaru said, smirking a little bit. The next house we stopped at had Shikamaru banging on the door, calling for the occupant to wake up, but then he sighed when no one answered and sat on the floor in front of the door.

"Plan B, I guess." Shikamaru said, getting out a bag of barbeque potato chips.

"Plan B is potato chips?" Naruto questioned incredulously

"They're barbeque. Feel free to help out." Shikamaru replied lazily, stuffing a few in his mouth and offering the bag to me. I rolled my eyes, grabbing a handful, and eating them quickly. I couldn't believe we were seriously doing this. As we finished off the bag, Shikamaru stopped at the last chip, a smirk on his face. Just as he lifted it up, the door slammed open and Choji came flying out snatching the chip out of Shikamaru's hand. He came to a stop in front of us, a serious look on his face, and the chip in his hand.

"Even for a bag of potato chips, I refuse to let anyone else have the last bite." Choji said

"Choji and I have been on the same team for a long time. So asking him is a no brainer." Shikamaru said calmly

"I get it, you know the guy, but don't you think for something like this your first pick should be someone like Shino?!" Naruto yelled, making me wince. Kami, why was he so loud?

"Do you always have to yell?" Shikamaru asked, a finger pressed to his ear in irritation. Just then a dog came flying out of nowhere to try and eat the potato chip still in Choji's hand, but he quickly stuffed it in his mouth.

"Shino can't do it. He's off on some special mission with his father right now." Kiba said, a small smirk on his face as he took in the rest of us.

"Oh no, not them too!" Naruto complained

"Yep, they're on the team." Shikamaru replied calmly, and I came behind him to cover his ears as Naruto yelled loudly.

"Thanks." Shikamaru said, rolling his eyes in exasperation, and I winked at him before shaking myself mentally. Life threatening mission first, flirting later. Akamaru barked happily and then the rest of us were running once again towards the gate. On the way, Shikamaru explained to Choji and Kiba about Sasuke leaving the village and how Tsunade had told him to get a team of skilled genin together to retrieve him.

"Is this everyone?" I asked Shikamaru, raising an eyebrow and glancing at him out of the corner of my eye.

"Unless we can find someone else on the way out of town." Shikamaru said ruefully "Ino is on a mission, Shino is with his dad out of the village, and Hinata is still hurt."

A thought crossed my mind and I thought about where we would find him before I remembered who else was hurt at the moment. "We should stop by the hospital on the way out of town."

"Why?" Shikamaru asked with a curious look on his face. I grinned back at him, already guiding us a little to the left to head in that direction, before I answered him.

"Neji." I said confidently, knowing he would be with Lee since the taijutsu expert had just had surgery not to long ago. I closed my eyes and activated the Sakimonagan, knowing that now that we were planning on seeking Neji out I would be able to see where we would find him and save time. I directed us towards the bottom of a staircase, where we gathered, all of us looking up at the Hyuuga prodigy expectantly. I had grown to trust Neji during our mission, even if he wasn't my favorite person in the world, and he was one hell of a fighter. Neji made his way down to the where we were gathered with Rock Lee's arm swung around his shoulder. Shikamaru explained the mission for the last time quickly, just hitting the high points.

"Yes, I understand." Neji said, an unfathomable look on his face.

"Yeah, it's kind of a drag but I figured the more guys we have the better." Shikamaru said to him, and I noticed Rock Lee's depressed look at not being able to come with us. I felt bad for him, but there would be other missions and right now we needed to go. Rock Lee got out of Neji's grasp and started walking towards the steps he had just gotten down form. The two teammates said their farewells and then we were off once more, gathering in front of the gate right before we left Konoha.

"It's time to go." Shikamaru said, looking at all of us with a forced casualness.

"What are we waiting for, let's go!" Naruto exclaimed, looking ready to sprint into the forest by himself. I suppose he would feel secure since he was basically a one man army with that technique but that's not how this mission needed to go.

"Shikamaru is team leader. We go when he says." I chided Naruto, shaking my head slightly in disapproval. Shikamaru gave me a nod of thanks and I just nodded in return.

"Are you sure you're the best guy for the job?" Naruto asked unsurely, making me scowl a little bit.

"What's up with you, Naruto?" Kiba asked, petting Akamaru unconsciously. "I mean, why the sudden urge to take charge? Taking orders from someone as lazy as Shikamaru wouldn't be my first choice either but.."

"It's not up to you. Shikamaru is the only chunin, which means the village elders think he has what it takes to lead this mission." Choji said reproachfully, making me feel a warm surge of affection for the Akimichi after hearing how good of a friend Choji was standing up for Shikamaru.

"In that case, shouldn't you be coming up with some kind of plan?" Neji interjected before more words could become into a spat and waste more time. "From what I hear, there may be enemy shinobi with Sasuke."

"Well, for starters, this is a rescue operation. Which means we will be in pursuit and the enemy already has an important advantage over us. That said, I'm arranging us in a deployment formation that can respond to any attack by the enemy." Shikamaru said seriously, glancing around at all of us. "If any of you don't follow my exact orders, we could all die."

It seemed to have the effect Shikamaru had desired because Naruto and Kiba, the two hotheads and therefore most likely to break rank or orders, recoiled at his words. Hopefully, they would take the words to heart and not endanger us by not following whatever plan Shikamaru has lined up. My ears perked up in attentiveness as Shikamaru continued speaking, describing the formation to us.

"Alright, the most important position is the spearhead, so that is going to be; Kiba. With all the walks you and Akamaru go on, you know the terrain. With your sensitive noses, you'll be able to track Sasuke's scent and sniff out any booby traps the enemy set." Shikamaru said seriously, then glanced to me. "Second is Ren, who has some of the best eyes to go along with Kiba's nose and he will see a trap coming a mile away. Thir-"

"Wait, what do you mean he has the best eyes?" Naruto interrupted, a confused frown on his face. "What about Neji?"

Shikamaru glanced at me, grimacing, and I knew why. He wanted me there to keep an eye on the future and see if we fell into a trap but couldn't explain that to them without breaking his promise to me. Sighing, knowing that Naruto couldn't keep a secret but that it was bound to come out sometime, I opened my mouth to tell them. "I have a dojutsu as well, Naruto."

"What?" Neji asked, alarm on his face as he turned to me. I avoided his gaze, hoping he wouldn't be too angry for not divulging the information to him during our last mission. I could feel it piercing me in the side of my head though.

"Awesome! Is it like Neji's? Or Sasuke's?" Kiba asked, a feral grin on his face as he evaluated me. The look in his eye was as if he was seeing me for the first time. I shook my head in the negative, glancing at Shikamaru who looked impatient, and I grimaced knowing we didn't have time for this.

"We don't have time for me to explain, but basically? I see the future." I said seriously, causing silence to come up in our group before Naruto busted out laughing as if I had made a joke. He was the only one but I still narrowed my eyes, feeling the resentment I carried from my old foster parents not believing me and almost putting me in an asylum for it welling up inside of me. "I'm being serious."

"He can see the future." Shikamaru confirmed, looking at me with an apology in his eyes but I shrugged minutely. What was done was done. "Third in line will be me so I can direct everyone behind me using hand signals while being able to react to the situation with Kiba and Ren in front of me. Ren will be able to warn me by at least a couple of seconds so I can warn the rest of you. Next is Naruto, because he is the most capable for executing quick moves in front or behind him. Next, Choji, who has the biggest amount of striking power. Naruto, Ren, Kiba, and I will open with attacks and then you come in to finish them off; you are the second wave of our attack. Finally, on the end, will be Neji. Your position is the most dangerous, I want you to constantly scan ahead for weakness in our ranks while also making sure we don't get hit from behind."

"Got it?" Shikamaru asked us, waiting until we all nodded, and then he knelt to the ground to begin drawing a diagram that showed which part of the perimeter we were each responsible for. Next, he asked us all to show him the ninja tools we all carried. I obligingly showed him my six shuriken, the four kunai, the ten exploding tags, and then of course my bow and arrows. Once he was finished looking over our stuff, he stood up from his kneeling position and looked at each of us once again. "Any questions?"

"Alright, since none of you have anything to add, I saved the most important part for last. For as long as I've known him, Sasuke and I haven't exactly been close buddies. In fact, I don't really like him at all." Shikamaru said honestly, shocking those of us gathered. "All the same, he's a ninja of the hidden leaf village. A comrade and I'll put my life on the line to help him. That's the way of our village. I know I usually seem like a lazy guy but not today. Because now I'm responsible for your lives too."

"Wow, I never thought I'd see Shikamaru acting like a Chunin." Kiba commented, ruining the serious moment but making some of the tension leave the group, which I could appreciate. "Very impressive."

"Alright, let's move out." Shikamaru said, and we all got ready to go, only stopping when a female voice called out to us to wait.

We turned, seeing Sakura standing there looking at us, and Naruto asked if she was alright. Shikamaru spoke up before she could reply, taking in her distraught expression and downcast eyes, telling her that Tsunade informed him about what happened and that he couldn't take her on the mission with us.

"I know you tried, but even you couldn't convince Sasuke, could you?" Shikamaru said rhetorically, causing the girl to look up. I couldn't look at her face, seeing the pain there, so I looked at Shikamaru instead as he continued talking. "Our only option now is to bring him back by force. I'm sorry, but there's nothing else you can do for him."

"Did Sasuke turn his back on you, Sakura?" Naruto asked disbelievingly. I glanced around uncomfortably as Sakura began to cry.

"Please, Naruto. This is a once in a lifetime request. Please bring Sasuke back to me." Sakura pleaded, tears rolling off her face as she stared into Naruto's eyes. "I did everything I could. I tried. I couldn't stop him from leaving the village. Now there's only one person who can stop him from leaving the village, one person who can save him. Naruto, it's all up to you."

Naruto looked back at her, determination and sympathy in his eyes, and then he promised her that he would bring him back. I had to fight the wince on my face, no one should ever promise an outcome; even if they were as confident as Naruto, because it would only hurt them both if the mission did not succeed. Kiba voiced my thoughts and Naruto dismissed them easily, a confident grin on his face as he told him that when he gave his word people could count on it, that it was his ninja way. I wasn't sure if I admired or despised his naive, childish behavior. I tried not to think too much on it because it was time to leave and there could be no distractions on a mission this important; who knew what kind of enemies we would be facing?

"Alright, this distraction cost us too much time. It's time to get going." Shikamaru ordered, and as one we all dashed off down the road before getting into the formation Shikamaru had designed for us. I fell into step behind Kiba and Akamaru, feeling reassured that Shikamaru was behind me and had my back. I didn't know Kiba, Choji, and Naruto very well but I did know Shikamaru and Neji to an extent. That was enough for me. I steeled myself and we put up a grueling pace, trying to catch up to the enemy who had gotten a decent head start.

'Alright, Sasuke. I don't know you, but ready or not, here we come.' I thought, activating my Sakimonagan as we ran. We could do this. We had too.

 **A/N: Alright! Sasuke Retrieval Mission Team is formed and the next chapter is going to packed full of action! Give me three Reviews between now and Tuesday, and I promise that it will be posted before 9:00PM Eastern Time on Wednesday. ;) Thanks for the support! Hope you all enjoy!**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

We tree hopped as soon as Kiba saw the evidence that they had taken to the trees themselves and cut through the forest in order to get to the border that Fire country shared with Sound. We had been traveling for about twenty minutes at a fast pace when Akamaru whined from his position beside Kiba at the front of the formation.

"What is it?" Shikamaru called up to him curiously as we jumped from tree to tree, anticipation making his voice sharper than the normally lazy drawl he used.

"Akamaru smells blood." Kiba announced grimly, his lips thinning into a grimace. "It seems like there was a fight - a group of people, four of which split off from two who were left behind at where the fight happened. Two people just appeared at the scene of the fight from what we can tell."

"It's like I feared. Sasuke has an escort of sound ninja." Shikamaru said, shaking his head. "We could investigate the fight and get a better idea of what we are dealing with, but we would lose time and fall further behind."

"By which time Sasuke could be at the border." Neji pointed out, his Byakugan activated. There wasn't anything I could see in the future for now, not when there hadn't been a decision made, so I stayed quiet and waited to see what Shikamaru decided.

"We have to go after Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed, speeding up a little.

"It's not your decision." Kiba shot back, scowling at the orange clad shinobi "Last time I checked Shikamaru was the leader. We do what he says we do."

"Shikamaru?" I prompted when he stayed silent, eyebrows furrowed. He glanced up, brown eyes narrowed in concentration, but his face eased just a little as he, for better or worse, picked a choice.

"We go after Sasuke." Shikamaru declared confidently

"Alright! I knew you'd make the right choice!" Naruto cheered, an almost feral grin on his face at the thought of continuing the chase and fighting for his teammate.

"They most likely got into a fight with a border patrol. Unless they are idiots, they'll suspect other shinobi will be on their trail - that means we lost the element of surprise." Shikamaru reminded us, casting his gaze around as we continued to tree hop at a breakneck speed. "Use all of your senses - be on the lookout for any kind of booby traps because they've most likely laid at least a couple to hinder us."

We all agreed and continued to move forward, focusing all of our senses outwards and moving as cautiously as we could at the speed we were traveling. I activated my Sakimonagan and got brief flashes of four people surrounding some kind of wooden container, which I opened my mouth to tell Shikamaru about, but then another vision hit me.

 _We all were jumping through the trees, heads constantly scanning, and Akamaru whined once again. Shikamaru called for a stop, and all of us came to a stop at a tree branch. He jumped back a couple of paces and looked at something on the bark of a tree before his eyes widened in shock - Shikamaru shouted out a warning immediately afterwards, his voice panicking and full of fear._

 _We all jumped backwards to where he was, but Kiba and Akamaru weren't fast enough since they were at the head of the group. They got caught in some of the explosions when the forest imploded - exploding tags seemed to erupt all around us, the noise and fire disorienting our rag tag team. Pieces of Hashirama trees exploded and I got hit with a splinter of wood half a foot long in my shoulder. I heard someone scream my name and Kiba's, their voice filled with shock, and when the smoke cleared I saw the burn marks covering every bit of exposed skin on Kiba's body. I could smell Akamaru's burnt fur and the burnt flesh of both the ninken and his master. Kiba was groaning in pain, lying on the forest floor, and the area around us was completely destroyed. The other members of our group got away unscathed but they evaluated the both of us with a sickened expression on their face - mostly Kiba, who looked to be in critical condition._

 _Shikamaru seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in and started barking orders, calling out for-_

"Stop!" I shouted, causing everyone to freeze on the branch they were perched on almost instantly just like we were trained too. Akamaru whined at the same time, causing me to tense, but my eyes searched for the seal placed on a tree just a few paces in front of the tree Kiba and Akamaru were resting in.

"Good catch, Ren." Shikamaru complemented, letting out a slightly relieved sigh at the seal placed on the tree in front of our group.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Paper bomb perimeter barrier - a nasty piece of work." I informed him, grimacing at the vision of what would have happened if I hadn't noticed in time. That would have been a pain in the ass to have been caught in, even if most of our group got out of the way - Kiba was our best tracker, it would have been a heavy loss for the mission.

"There's a small delay after the trap is tripped, waiting until the targets enter the kill zone, and then the bombs go off; catching all of those unlucky enough to be inside the perimeter." Shikamaru explained, looking over the trap cautiously. "It's a tricky jutsu - I read about it in one of the books my Dad used to make me read."

"We have to go around it." Kiba announced, looking irritated at the fact. "It'll waste more time trying to disable it."

The rest of us agreed and decided to take the long way around, albeit reluctant to give up the precious minutes it would take, putting us further behind the other group. Hopefully at least one of them was injured or at least fatigued from the fight so that we could catch up. We landed on the forest floor when Akamaru sensed the other group had done the same, and as we were walking forward, that was when we noticed all of the trip wires on the ground.

"They are spending more time laying traps than they were in the beginning. I would bet one of them is injured or too tired to keep up the grueling pace." I commented, scanning the criss cross of wires on the expanse of ground ahead of our group. We carefully maneuvered our way through the traps, the only incident being when Naruto almost tripped a camouflaged wire that was placed after a more obvious one - luckily, Shikamaru trapped him with his shadow in order to prevent him from tripping it.

"They are resting up ahead." Neji said softly, just loud enough for all of us to hear him. "There are four bodies spread out, some sitting and some leaning against trees."

"Alright everyone, come here." Shikamaru said, a distant look in his eyes that told me he was coming up with a strategy; it was never a good sign for his opponent when he got that look. "I've got a plan to nail these bastards."

We went over the plan, Shikamaru making doubly sure that Naruto understood his part in it; The blonde haired shinobi's exuberance was energizing, but he did tend to be on the reckless side. He actually kind of reminded me of Akari a little bit. Once we all knew what we were doing, we began creeping forward as stealthily as possible so we didn't give away our presence. The forest was like a second home to Leaf shinobi, so it was with sure feet and confidence that we made our way to the targets. Neji and Shikamaru were approaching from the front, Kiba and I from the right side, with Naruto and Choji coming at them from the left side. Once we were all in position, I activated my Sakimonagan and saw that our surprise attack had been turned around on us.

"Check your feet!" I yelled out to the others, cutting the cord that was tied around my own with a kunai, and throwing a kunai with an exploding tag wrapped around the handle at the four sound ninja. The others either did not hear my warning in time or the sound shinobi acted once they heard me, because my friends all got yanked by an almost invisible wire that had attached to their feet right after one of the sound nin had thrown a flashbang tag. They were all unceremoniously piled in front of the sound shinobi, who were looking pretty pleased with themselves. I jumped in front of my team while they sorted themselves out, my eyes an ice blue, giving them a look that dared one of them to attack us.

"Well, well. They sent a bunch of kids after us." A silver haired guy said, grinning nastily.

"Why don't you come say that to my face, bastard?" I taunted, walking to one side and making myself as noticeable as possible. I was hoping Shikamaru knew what I was doing but didn't want to look at him to see. "Too scared I'll kick your ass? Or maybe that we'll take Sasuke away and that snake face of a leader will do it for me?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about twerp." A red haired kunoichi said with disdain, shaking her head and glaring at me. "Lord Orochimaru would squash you like a bug without breaking a sweat."

"Good thing he isn't here." I said, smirking a little when I had the vision.

"Shadow Possession complete." Shikamaru said out loud with a smirk. I deactivated my dojutsu to conserve chakra and turned to give Shikamaru a quick grin. "Nice job distracting them, Ren."

"Sasuke is in the coffin." Neji said, his pale eyes focused on the container behind the four enemies who were currently paralyzed. "We should get him and leave. I won't feel comfortable until we are back in the village."

"Shadow Possesion, huh?" the silver haired sound ninja said, his lips twitching in a way I didn't like. "Good thing I know how to counter that."

As the words left his mouth, a shuriken came pelting out of the woods behind us and sliced through Shikamaru's sleeve, drawing blood. The shadow retracted away from the four sound nin and the burliest one with orange hair hit the ground, using some kind of earth release on our group. I cursed out loud, thinking about how stupid it had been to stop using the Sakimonagan, and resentfully watched as a barrier made of stone encased us. I heard one of the four congratulate the man who had caught us, calling him Jirobo, and then telling him to catch up when he was done with us.

"That doesn't sound good." I voiced out loud, my eyes roving across the rocks surrounding us.

"I'll get us out of here." Kiba said cockily, lips twisting up into a rather feral grin. "Tunneling Fang!"

The rest of us watched as Kiba hit the barrier with a powerful attack, spinning his body at an incredible velocity, and looked on in trepidation as it made a slight crater in the rock. My eyes widened as I saw the barrier begin to repair itself, the crater slowly fading away, until it seemed as though Kiba had never even made a dent in the first place.

"Are you guys seeing this?" Naruto asked, shaking his head to himself before he ran full tilt towards one of the walls. "Let us out of here you bastards! Let us out!"

I eyed the ground, noticing it hadn't really changed at all in appearance from the ground we had been standing on. I raised my eyebrows, an idea forming in my head, but second guessing because surely it couldn't be this simple, this easy.

"Doton: Hidden Mole Jutsu!" I called out, garnering the attention of my teammates as I sunk into the ground. I heard Naruto cheer as I sunk into the ground, the earth becoming as malleable as sand around my body, and I went straight down in order to make sure when I came out on the other side I didn't run into the barrier. I was a probably about seven feet in the ground when I felt a jarring pain in my bones, startling me and making me realize I must have run into the barrier, before I was launched back up to the surface against my will. The others had hopeful expressions on their faces but the hope quickly left when I shook my head grimly.

"The barrier extends all the way. It's most likely a perfect sphere, I encountered it about seven feet under the ground." I explained, watching Shikamaru's eyes narrow as he filed that information away for later. Neji used his Byakugan just as Naruto complained about being tired - which honestly made me notice that I felt pretty drained as well, more than I should after using the technique I had.

"The barrier is sucking the chakra out of all of us." Neji announced, his voice calm but his face revealed how alarmed he was by that fact. "If we don't escape from here soon, he will drain us completely."

"Alright, so let's get out of here." Kiba replied, standing up and pulling something out of his weapon pouch. "Here, Akamaru, have a food pill."

I watched in fascination as the small, white dog that always accompanied the Inuzuka turned a bright, angry red color and grew a substantial amount. Akamaru bared his teeth when the change was complete, giving a yip to his partner that was most likely a signal that he was ready for whatever Kiba had planned. Kiba shot us a quick look, as if saying 'Alright guys, now watch THIS' before performing a few handsigns. "Human Mimicry! Beast Mimicry!"

Akamaru turned into a decidedly more feral looking Kiba, with elongated canine teeth and claws where his fingernails would normally be. Kiba, for his part, changed into the same form so we were faced with two identical Inuzuka's in what I called, at least in my head, beast mode. I was actually pretty impressed, especially when they used fang over fang, which allowed both of them to spin at an incredible rate and launch themselves at the barrier. It was a powerful technique, reminding me of a particularly powerful drill; it was the same as the tunneling fang Jutsu that Kiba had used earlier, essentially, except with double the firepower. The two of them ricocheted around the barrier, able to control themselves in the jutsu so they could steer clear of us which was even more impressive in my book, causing a large number of dents to appear in the stone structure. They ended the jutsu gasping for breath and I watched exhaustedly as the barrier regenerated itself once again.

I had a theory that it was most likely using our Chakra in order to repair itself and maintain the shape; So, if we were to exit the barrier somehow, it would result in the barrier crumbling. I gazed around at my teammates, gauging their expressions in order to see if anyone had an idea, and stopped when I landed on Shikamaru. His narrowed eyes were focused on one spot in particular where the barrier was healing itself; I looked around the barrier, wondering what was so significant about that spot, and when I looked behind him I saw the barrier finish healing. My eyes drifted back to the spot Shikamaru was analyzing and they widened as I noticed what he most likely had. That spot, even though Kiba had hit all over the barrier in just a few seconds, was regenerating at a significantly slower rate. Well, I say significantly slower but it could very well just be that I was so excited to see a weakness that I was exaggerating.

Shikamaru's dark brown orbs were staring into my own grey ones when I turned away from the spot on the wall as it finished healing. He raised a black eyebrow questioningly, asking silently if I had seen it as well, and I nodded my head to confirm that I had. My eyes drifted down his face and his neck, taking in his features, before freezing at the blood still coming out of his arm. Sighing to myself, and secretly wondering if he even remembered that he had been injured or if he was just that lost in thought whilst trying to find us a way out of here. I walked over to him, pulling out the bandages I carried on my person and waving them in order to show what I was doing. Shikamaru glanced down at his bleeding arm with a grimace, apparently being reminded about it by me, and I was wrapping his tanned bicep before he had a chance to say anything. Both of us were silent as I worked, I was being careful not to tie it too tight so that his circulation wasn't cut off but not wanting it loose enough that it would not stop bleeding from lack of pressure either. It needed to be a happy medium between the two; luckily, well more like pragmatically, we were taught basic first aid in the academy and it had become second nature to me over the last couple of years.

"Do you trust me?" Shikamaru asked so quietly that I was almost positive not even Kiba, with his enhanced senses, could hear him. I stared at him seriously, considering the question and all of the interactions we have had.

Shikamaru wouldn't be satisfied by a quick answer, he would want me to think about it. So that's what I did. In the last few months, I had come to know Shikamaru Nara to be a loyal, intelligent shinobi. Admittedly, he was pretty lazy and unmotivated, but that wasn't the case when he was engaged. I was pretty sure that it was just hard for him to be interested by anything and the reason he wanted to nap or watch clouds all the time was because his brain was constantly processing information. His mind most likely never shut up, always zooming at a rate most people wouldn't be able to even comprehend, which made him seek out those activities in order to quiet his mind and be able to relax. The Nara was intense, in a way, with the way that he looked at me sometimes as though I was a puzzle he was trying to figure out. It made me feel peculiar, warm in a way but also slightly uneasy, but mostly the first. I enjoyed spending time with him, I enjoyed his family from the few interactions I had with them, and I knew he was an excellent strategist who made very sound judgements based off of the information in front of him and his uncanny ability to stay at least a few moves ahead of his opponent.

"With my life." I responded, just as quiet, but my eyes never leaving his for a moment. I watched as his opened wider than they normally did, possibly shocked by my response? I didn't regret saying the words, however, because it was the absolute truth. I trusted Shikamaru with my life, not just in a way that a subordinate should trust their field commander, but I trust him with a part of myself most people don't get to see. I squeezed his shoulder through the surprisingly light chunin vest he was wearing in a reassuring gesture as I finished wrapping his arm up. He was still staring at me but nodded slowly, taking a step away, before breaking the eye contact and approaching one part of the wall. It was the wall opposite to the one that had healed at a slower rate, I noted interestedly, but remained silent as I watched him carry out whatever plan he had come up with in that brain of his.

"Hey! I want to talk to whoever is in charge." Shikamaru yelled out, his raspy voice echoing slightly in the small space we were all trapped in. "I have a deal for you guys. How about you let us out and you can keep Sasuke? I never really liked the guy anyway."

Kiba's and Naruto's heads both shot up instantly, confused and betrayed expressions on their faces as they listened to Shikamaru. Choji and Neji, however, were calmly waiting to see how the situation would unravel. I saw Shikamaru's shoulders lower slightly, obviously wanting a response and disappointed when he didn't receive one, but he perked up a little as a voice I assumed belonged to Jirobo replied. "No deal. I've never let a captive out and I'm not going to start now."

The voice was distorted because of how thick the wall was, but I think the voice was coming from the wall that Shikamaru was facing. I saw the calculated look on his face out of the corner of my eye and assumed he had reached the same conclusion, but wanted to be sure anyway.

"Then just let me out and you can keep the others." Shikamaru said, refusing to look back at any of us as the words left his mouth. "All this fighting is really not my thing, it's such a drag and I'm tired of it. So, how about?"

"You little..!" Kiba exclaimed angrily, standing up with a hurt and pissed off look displayed on his face. "If you're ratting us out, I'm going to kill you!"

"Shut it, Kiba." Shikamaru replied, his voice as serious as I had ever heard it "For once in your life."

"Sacrificing your fellow shinobi?" Jirobo asked mockingly, a sadistic joy in his voice. He was obviously the type that liked to play with his prey before the kill, which was the stupidest kind of people. It just gave your enemy more time to think of a plan or for reinforcements to come. His arrogance was our gain, however, because I was sure things were going exactly the way Shikamaru wanted them too. The Nara was walking around the perimeter of the barrier, checking to make sure where Jirobo was positioned as he continued to insult Shikamaru. "What a terrible example of not only a ninja but also a man you are. Oh, wait, you're just a boy, aren't you?"

The orange haired Sound shinobi continued to speak but I quit paying attention to the words when I saw Shikamaru stop in front of a spot. He subtly marked the location by drawing a circle in the dirt with his food before turning around to face the rest of us. Kiba and Naruto began fighting, what had started it I wasn't sure, but it was quickly getting on my nerves as the volume escalated as did the insults.

"Shut up!" Choji yelled, causing both of them to fall quiet and look over at the heavyset Akimichi clan heir who was normally a rather soft spoken, nice guy. I felt my lips twitch upwards, not quite a smile but close, when I saw Shikamaru sink to crouch down with all of his fingertips touching, his thumbs facing upwards towards his face and the other digits facing downwards, forming a circle. As his eyes closed and eyebrows furrowed, the smile became a little more pronounced because even though I felt weak from all the chakra that had been drained out of me, I knew we would probably get out of here - that position was one Shikamaru only did when he was faced with a difficult puzzle, obstacle, or choice. It always resulted in an amazing strategy from him though, which was why I was smiling; my attention was drawn to Choji as he opened a bag of chips and began munching on them. The Akimichi was as content to wait for his best friend to come up with a plan as I was, if not more, and I admired the brown haired shinobi for his steadfast loyalty.

"Is he meditating?" Naruto asked out loud, looking at Shikamaru strangely and look to Choji for an answer, who was steadily annihilating the bag of chips in his hand.

"Figures." Kiba scoffed, screwing his face up in his irritation. "Choji responds to a crisis by stuffing his face."

"We need to bust out of here." Naruto exclaimed, making me deadpan. It was as though he thought we weren't taking it seriously before but informing us that it was time to become serious about leaving. It made me want to facepalm but distracted me from most of the next sentence out of his mouth. "-Shadow clones!"

"Don't bother." Neji commented, seemingly completely serene and unbothered by our situation. "Our chakra restores the walls to their original condition, so multiple attacks won't work. We need taijutsu strong enough that one knockout blow will create a hole in one go in order to be successful."

"Well, Choji has stronger taijutsu than I do." Kiba admitted, albeit reluctantly, and then gesturing towards where Choji stood with his almost finished bag of chips. "But look at him! He has other things on his mind."

Shikamaru stood up, drawing the attention of our entire group and causing Kiba's words to be ignored. "Neji, can you focus your eyes on the wall behind yourself and Choji? Do you have enough Chakra?"

"I think so." Neji replied contemplatively.

"You aren't going to listen to him, are you?" Naruto interrupted angrily

"You still don't get it!" Choji exclaimed exasperatedly "Don't you remember what Shikamaru said when we came together as a team? He would put his life on the line for any one of us."

"Okay, Choji, try to keep your voice down." Shikamaru said, his tone of voice all business, but with a fond look just under the surface for his best friend before turning to the Inuzuka. "Kiba, up for another round? Can you make a dent in the wall right behind Choji?"

"I'm always up for getting wild." Kiba said, that feral grin on his face as both he and Akamaru got prepared for another fang over fang. They performed it without a hitch and soon there were a myriad of dents in the dome surrounding us.

"I see." Neji said, comprehension dawning on his face.

"What is it?" Naruto asked

"The wall heals slower at this point than any other in the structure." Neji explained, looking to Shikamaru with newfound respect. "Shikamaru observed this earlier and got our captor to talk so he would reveal his location, which is parallel to the weak point."

I saw that Naruto had been following along but he still looked a little lost, so I simplified it for him. "Shikamaru was being a dick so he could find out that guy spreads his chakra too thin to give us the best chance of busting out of here."

"Oh! Alright Shikamaru!" Naruto cheered, face brightening at the thought of leaving the chakra sucking dome.

"Alright, Ren? Once Neji marks the spot, use that new jutsu of yours with as much power as you can pack in it. Choji will hit it with everything he's got right afterwards." Shikamaru said out loud, pointedly ignoring Naruto's comment and my over simplified explanation. I took the bow from my back and strung an arrow, gently pulling back just to make sure the draw was good, before nodding once to signify I was ready when they were. Neji had marked the spot with a piece of chalk that Shikamaru had tossed over to the Hyuuga and I lifted my bow to take aim. Just as I pulled back the arrow to take the shot, Choji began his technique at the exact same time.

"Doton: Seismic Arrow!"

"Expansion Jutsu! Human Bullet Tank!"

The dome shuddered as my arrow made contact, creating a dent that was more deep and wide than the Fang Over Fang had caused. I watched as Choji began rotating like a giant boulder, hitting the exact spot and making an indent in the ground as he collided with the wall. We all let out relieved breaths as Choji broke through and light spilled into the dome, all of us feeling much better now that our chakra was not being stolen as we exited the structure. Just as I had predicted, the entire dome crumbled soon after we got clear.

"That was awesome. No other way to say it." Shikamaru stated, a satisfied smirk on his face as he observed the pieces of rock that had previously made up our prison. As the dust from the collapsed structure cleared, Jirobo was straightening up and watching us. "He's alone. The others must have gone ahead."

"Yes, they have already made it out of my range." Neji confirmed, making my heart sink a little. We had been so close to them and now we had to gain all that ground back after we take care of this nuisance.

"Just when I thought we caught up." Shikamaru complained, rolling his shoulders and eyeing Jirobo as he began to clap his hands with an expression of contempt on his face.

"Congratulations." Jirobo told us mockingly, dropping his hands. "That was good teamwork - for losers."

Kiba and Naruto, the two most impulsive of our group, charged the sound ninja almost at the exact same time. They paid Neji's warning no heed and barreled straight towards him like idiot's, their only plan to punch anything they could touch most likely. I winced as Kiba was knocked aside as easily as though he were a child right before Naruto was punched so hard in the gut that he flew back a few feet and hit a tree. Kiba and Naruto got to their feet fairly quickly, heading over to where we still stood facing off against Jirobo. No one had made a move yet but I activated my Sakimonagan. I saw the Earth Release that Jirobo was about to unleash and quickly dropped a smoke bomb, obscuring us from his sight, and we used the body flicker technique to retreat from the clearing and into the forest itself. As we all made it there, we huddled together to make a plan.

"We need to split up." Shikamaru said reluctantly "We can't waste time with this guy but we can't leave him on our tail either."

"I agree." Neji said after a tense moment. "With our Chakra gone, it won't be easy. One group to stop him, one group to follow Sasuke."

"Neji, take Kiba and Choji to chase after." Shikamaru said after the thought for a moment "Naruto, Ren, and I will take care of this guy."

"We need to move!" I shouted, my still activated dojutsu showing that Jirobo was about to throw a huge chunk of earth at us. We all jumped back, wearily looking around the clearing because the guy had disappeared, before I saw him. I body flickered over to Shikamaru, tackling him out of the way just as a hand broke the earth to drag him underneath. I landed on top of Shikamaru painfully, both of us grunting at the uncomfortable landing.

"You okay?" I asked, standing up and offering my hand to help him up.

"Yeah, thanks for the save." Shikamaru said, gripping my hand and climbing to his feet easily. "I always imagined I would be on top though, so it was certainly interesting."

I gaped at Shikamaru, who wasn't looking at me and had a completely serious look on his face, which made me doubt that he had meant what he said in the way I originally thought. It was when his lips curved upwards in that damn smirk that I felt my face heat up and I punched him in the arm, causing him to protest and grip where I had hit. "Don't you think this is not the time?"

"Yeah, yeah. You didn't have to hit me." Shikamaru grumbled, both of us going to our teammates. Jirobo watched as we regrouped with a condescending sneer on his face directed at Shikamaru.

"I don't know what's more pathetic; the fool or those who follow him." Jirobo taunted "Tell you what - if you want to work under glum faced shadow lover, I'll just kill you now and put you out of your misery."

"How about you shut it before I shut it for you." Naruto growls out, practically vibrating with anger.

"This guy is mine." Choji said, making all of us look at him in surprise. He was staring straight at Jirobo with a look that said he was going to inflict a lot of pain on this guy which was extremely out of character for Choji.

"But Choji.." Shikamaru protested, trailing off.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, looking at Choji as if he was insane. "This isn't the kind of guy you can take down on your own."

"He's mine, I said." Choji said sharply

"But Choji!" Naruto retorts, an argument on his lips but Choji ignores him in favor of tossing Shikamaru a bag of food pills. I was getting a bad feeling about this, for some reason.

Shikamaru eyed the bag of food pills and then his best friend, his expression torn. "Choji, you aren't gonna.."

"Uh-huh." Choji said, never looking away from his enemy. "Don't worry. I've got my secret weapon with me."

"Yeah, but Choji, this is.." Shikamaru looked lost for words and dismayed by the fact that he couldn't stay with his best friend.

"This is priceless." Jirobo commented, sneering. The bulky man began to charge towards where we all stood. "Think I'm going to wait forever?"

"Get going!" Choji called out, taking some kind of green pill out of a box, and then intercepting Jirobo. Choji stopped the man mid-charge, holding him in place as they locked arms and both dug their feet into the ground. "Hurry!"

"You better catch up with us." Shikamaru orders, turning away from his friend. "You hear?"

"Yes!" Choji grunts out, already sounding as though he were being over exerted. "Get out of here!"

All of us jump into the trees, jumping from one to the next as quickly as we can. I didn't have enough chakra to maintain my Sakimonagan and my mind was racing, thinking about Choji facing off against Jirobo and Shikamaru's expression when he had to leave him. There was no other choice for him, he had to continue because he was the team leader and had to direct the group, but that doesn't mean I couldn't stay in his place. I stopped abruptly, causing everyone else to stop, and I gave Shikamaru a meaningful look.

"I'm going to catch up." I said, grabbing a kunai from my weapons pouch.

"What?" Shikamaru asked, looking confused before realization dawned on him. "You mean..?"

"Yeah, Choji and I will catch up together." I said, tensing my legs as I prepared to jump from the tree and backtrack to where Choji was. Shikamaru grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him, wrapping me up into a quick embrace. I breathed in the spicy, woodsy smell that I had come to fondly associate with him.

"Thank you. I need both of you to come back." Shikamaru said in my ear and I simply nodded in response, not trusting myself to say anything. Shikamaru pulled back and then they continued while I headed in the opposite direction towards the clearing.

"Hold on Choji, here I come." I muttered, jumping across the trees easily and moving as quickly as I could. I just needed to make sure I got to Choji, we beat Jirobo, and then catch up to the others. We could do this. We had to do this.

 **A/N: I'm a jerk for ending it there, I know, but lot's of fight scenes coming up! I promise!**

 **I also want to apologize for the long gap between updates, especially when I had promised that the next chapter would be up by wednesday a week ago. I honestly just needed a break from writing. I don't know if anyone follows any of my other stories, but just in the past month and a half, I've written over 150,000 words - which is a shit ton to write in that short of a time period. So, I have rested, and will hopefully be back to updating fairly quickly - at least once a week - although maybe not every two days like I had been.**

 **Rache Replies to Reviews Section:**

 **Tock: I am so glad you are enjoying my story! I appreciate it! I was also sad when Akari and Rafu died, but it had to happen :( Now, the thing about Ren is that he IS extremely forward in an awkward way. It's like he is willing to put himself out there, but he has no idea what to do once he does. I look at him as having a lot of bravado - a kind of fake confidence that lets him hide how insecure he can feel sometimes and the times that he thinks that he isn't good enough. You hit the nail on the head with why he is impulsive - because he has visions only a few minutes into the future, if he isn't ready to react, then what he saw happen will actually happen - because he has had these visions since he was little, this has just kind of bled into his personality. I can't promise no more tragedy, there will be at least one I know you won't like, but I hope you continue to enjoy the story!**

 **XIV - La Temperanza: Thank you! I'm glad you like the story and am especially thankful for your wonderful review! I have considered rewriting the begining, but keep in mind, it's only been up for like a month lol so I'm not sure I want to quite yet. Now, I do want to mention that some of the changes in style is on purpose - I'm trying to make it seem like Ren is getting a little more mature as the story progresses because of the loss of his teammates and as he ages. Hope you continue to enjoy and review!**

 **Sarahgri99: Thank you for your review (s), I truly appreciate the time you take to let me know how much you are enjoying the story. It means the world. There will be more Kakashi and Ren interactions, I've been building that up for awhile, and they should be coming pretty soon - so keep an eye out! Thanks again!**

 **Also, thank you to Paulavara140, Melome, lonelywishfuldreamer, agd888, Adamantia13, and Amikotsu for your wonderful reviews! I hope you keep enjoying the story and keep reviewing to let me know what you think!**

 **~ Rache**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

I flew through the tree's it felt like, my feet barely touching a branch before I was launching myself to the next one in order to get back to Choji as quickly as I could. It had been a mistake to leave at all. I wouldn't let Choji be another Akari or Rafu.

"Not today." I muttered to myself, sending more chakra to my feet and plowing ahead.

Only a couple of minutes later I felt a surge in chakra in the same area that I had last seen Choji. I saw the sound-nin get smacked back by Choji with his hand, which was expanded past its regular size, before following up with an axe kick with an enlarged foot.

The sound-nin rolled to the side and dodged, but Choji didn't let up. I remained hidden, waiting for the opportune moment to strike before revealing my presence.

The sound ninja grabbed Choji's hand and sent him flying, but Choji did an expansion jutsu in mid-air, this time enlarging his whole body and practically doing a belly flop on the enemy. My eyes widened and I jumped back, moving out of the way of Choji's suddenly huge body, and barely made it to a safe place when he landed. I

felt my hair fly back as the wind from his landing blew, causing a cloud of dust that was hard to see through as well. Everything got quiet for a moment as the dust settled, but suddenly I heard Choji groan in pain before he was launched into the air. Quickly, I moved forward and saw the sound-nin who had suddenly became another person.

The orange skinned and orange haired version of Jirobo stalked forward and picked up Choji again before tossing him further away, taunting him.

"You're better off playing ninja with your friends, weakling." Jirobo mocked, still moving towards Choji at a walk.

My eyes narrowed as he moved forward again and I pulled an arrow, glad my presence hadn't been noticed yet. Choji was laying on the ground, eyes screwed up in pain and panting heavily. I could tell he was exhausted from the amount of chakra he had used rapidly and would probably need a break before being ready to fight again.

"Doton: Seismic Arrow." I whispered to myself, pulling the arrow back before sending it flying towards Jirobo. At the last moment, he looked up and jumped backwards, the arrow leaving a crater between Choji and the sound-nin.

"At least he has friends. Looks to me like yours all abandoned you." I said, flipping out of the tree's and landing in the middle of the crater. Jirobo's eyes narrowed at me and I smiled tauntingly, daring him to come after me.

"Ren?" Choji said, sitting up slightly.

"Hey Choji. I know you could handle this guy on your own but I figured you could use a break." I replied, my eyes never leaving the sound ninjas.

"Get out of my way kiddo and I may not kill you." Jirobo said, grinning a little at me.

"We both know that you're lying and we both know you're going to have to get through me first." I replied dismissively, pulling another two arrows out of the quiver on my back. I pulled back and shot them quickly, activating my Sakimonagan at the same time, and watched as he knocked one of the arrows aside and caught the other one.

Jirobo broke the arrow between his fingers and tossed the pieces to the side carelessly. The sound-nin charged me and I jumped up, lashing out with a kick and moving out of the way as he struck out with his fist. I ducked out of the way and tried to sweep his feet, but he jumped up before I could, bringing his fist down once again in a punishing blow.

I attempted to dodge to the left, barely getting out of the way of his fist, but leaving myself vulnerable and unbalanced in the process. He seized the advantage my opening provided and I felt him grab my neck roughly, causing me to choke when my air supply was abruptly cut off, leaving me kicking uselessly with my hands scrambling to alleviate the pressure around my throat.

"Now that I'm in my second state, I'll need a lot more chakra. You won't mind if I take the rest of yours, will you?" Jirobo asked sarcastically, a demented grin on his face. I couldn't make any noises and felt my chakra being drained out of me, my dojutsu deactivating on it's own because of the drain. "I'm glad you came back. It's funny you think that fatso could take me when he can't even help you! You're both the useless people your friends sacrificed. Once I'm done with you two, I'm going to kill those heartless friends of yours."

"You don't know anything!" Choji suddenly roared, a super-sized fist coming to punch Jirobo. I dropped to my knees, gasping and trying to catch my breath. I watched as Choji moved forward, punching Jirobo again and causing him to fly back. "I'm not going to sit by while you hurt my friends!"

I struggled to my feet and used the body flicker technique to get behind Jirobo. My Sakimonagan came back on and I ducked as I saw the elbow coming he tried to use to hit me. I pushed as much chakra as I could to my feet and kicked out, hitting his back and sending him towards Choji.

Choji caught him with his fist and plowed him into the ground, Jirobo's body making a small crater in the ground. Choji reared back again, his hand once again larger than normal because of an expansion jutsu, and delivered a punishing blow straight to Jirobo's head, crushing the sound ninja. I watched as Jirobo slowly changed back, the orange receding and revealing his normal skin. I rushed forward as Choji stumbled, catching him, and holding him upright.

"I got you." I said, lifting him up so I could get a better grip.

"You..you came back." Choji said, looking at me with disbelief and surprise in his eyes.

"Of course I did. Leaf shinobi stick together. You're my comrade." I said, grinning at him a little, even if it was weak. The fight had taken a lot more out of me than I wanted, especially with the chakra drain Jirobo had done, but I had enough to continue on. "Ready to catch up?"

"I-I don't know if I can run." Choji admitted, looking ashamed.

"Then I'll carry you." I responded, slinging him on my back with a slight grunt. He was pretty heavy but I could manage. I reached into my weapons pouch and dug out two soldier pills, taking one and handing one of them to Choji. "This should have you on your feet again."

"Thanks." Choji said, taking the pill and eating it. I grimaced as I ate mine, always hating the chalky taste they left in my mouth, and then started running. "Thanks for coming back."

"No problem. You saved my ass back there, so I should be thanking you." I said dismissively, concentrating on my feet and making sure I didn't drop Choji. I wasn't looking for traps because I assumed Shikamaru and the others would have disabled them, but as I felt Chakra surge through my veins because of the soldier pill, I activated my dojutsu to keep an eye out.

"I couldn't let him kill you. It would crush Shikamaru." Choji said, making my face heat up in embarrassment. I felt a warm feeling curling in my gut at the thought, however morose it may be, that Shikamaru would miss me.

We came to an arrow marked on a tree, letting us know which way to go, and underneath were words written in Kanji. I stopped to read them and Choji climbed off my back, coming next to me and reading them out loud.

"Hurry up slowpokes. That was Naruto." Choji said, his voice shaking a little in wonder. It honestly kind of crushed me to see, that he was this happy to find out people cared about him so much. "We're waiting on you two, so hurry up. That's Kiba."

"Well, we better not disappoint." I said, smirking a little and offering my back to him once again. Choji shook his head and took off, leaving me behind to watch him for a moment before I followed. After reading that it was like his strength was renewed and we moved through the forest, following the arrows and attempting to catch up to our friends.

We caught up to someone, I could tell, feeling the chakra spike in the distance. We doubled our pace and arrived to see Neji, laying face down, with arrows in his back. His opponent was lying a few feet away, dead and face down in the dirt.

"Neji!" Choji called, rushing over to the Hyuuga and feeling for a pulse. His face looked relieved as he found one and he looked up to me to announce it. "He's alive!"

"I don't know medical jutsu." I said, frowning and looking him over. It was obvious that he needed medical attention but if the other opponent's were as strong as Jirobo, they were going to need our help. It didn't feel right to leave him either. "He needs medical attention. We can't just leave him."

"I'll take him while you catch up." Choji volunteered, determination in his eyes. I looked at him, unsure, and he just nodded reassuringly. "I've got this. You go help the others. I'm not going to be of much use after taking two of the Akimichi food pills, It's taken a lot out of me and I'm not sure how well I'd do in a fight."

I nodded tentatively, squeezing Choji's shoulders in a silent thank you before once again taking off to try and catch up to the others.

I flew through the forest, only stopping to make sure I was on the right track, following the arrows they had left as well as the subtle signs they had left while passing. A broken branch, a partial foot print; little things that the other guys hadn't bothered to cover up considering it was now a chase. I knew we needed to catch them and get Sasuke before they got out of Fire Country or he might as well be lost for good.

I came to another clearing, looking around with a frown at the obvious signs of a struggle. My eyes scanned the surrounding area and widened when I saw signs that two, maybe three, people had taken a tumble off of the edge and fallen down into what looked to be a rather deep chasm. I couldn't see the bottom at all, which made my heart constrict, but looking around the clearing I saw that at least three people had continued to move forward.

Once again I was torn on what to do. Follow whoever had fallen down the cliff to make sure they were alright or to continue on where the trail led? The trail was most likely to lead to Sasuke, I knew, but what if it was Shikamaru who fell over the edge?

I shook my head, clearing those thoughts, and focused on the task at hand. I couldn't be distracted like that while on a mission; Shikamaru wouldn't want me to be worried about following him, he would want me to make the logical choice, think with my head, and go complete the mission.

Having made up my mind, I leaped into the tree's and once again followed the trail my comrades and enemies had made. I quietly approached the fight, making sure to hide my chakra signature as much as possible to retain the element of surprise. I saw Shikamaru and the red-headed Sound Kunoichi in what appeared to be a deadlock. She got uglier from when I had last seen her; longer hair, horns coming out of her head, and her skin had a gray tint to it that was completely unnatural. It was most likely the curse seal that Jirobo had as well.

I watched as Shikamaru's shadow wound it's way around her body and attempted to strangle her, but she was obviously resisting because it wasn't able to quite make it. I could see the sweat gathering on Shikamaru's forehead and so, without making a sound, I dropped down to the ground and revealed myself to Shikamaru. Tayuya, the red-headed Kunoichi, couldn't see me with the shadow possession technique restricting her movements. Shikamaru's eyes flickered to me before returning to focus on Tayuya. I knew he had observed my presence and I activated the Sakimonagan, quietly walking forward as I did so, and readied two arrows from my quiver to be shot.

Just as Shikamaru released the shadow possesion, Tayuya let out a victorious snarl before I released the arrows. One pierced through the back of her skull, coming out through her forehead, while the other went through her neck. All I heard was the gurgling sound of blood in her throat as she attempted to make some kind of noise before her body hit the ground. She was dead within seconds.

"About time you got here." Shikamaru said, walking away from Tayuya and collapsing next to me for a second. He looked at me, his expression conveying a large amount of concern and only a little relief at seeing me, not bothering to wipe the blood that had splattered onto his face from my attack off yet. "Did you see any of the others?"

"Choji and I came upon Neji, who had defeated his opponent but was in a critical state. Choji took Neji back to the village to receive medical attention while I continued on." I explained, sitting down myself to rest up a little before we moved on. Shikamaru's shoulders relaxed a fraction after hearing his best friend and Neji were alright. I quit speaking for a moment as I took a drink of the water pouch Shikamaru offered to me, the liquid quickly soothing my parched throat. "I didn't see anyone else until I found you. What about Naruto and Kiba?"

"Kiba fell off a cliff fighting one of them." Shikamaru said, gesturing towards the dead body a few feet from us. "Naruto went after Sasuke because another Sound ninja came and took the coffin. We need to go after him."

"Alright, let's go." I said, getting to my feet and offering my hand to Shikamaru to help him up as well. He took it gratefully and after storing the water pouch, we took off to try and find Naruto. I could feel my legs burning and how low my body was on chakra; I would be next to useless in the coming fight, I'd have to rely on my brain and my weapons.

Shikamaru and I jumped from tree to tree, with him slightly in the lead although I could tell he was pushing himself to his limits as well. It wasn't long before I felt a massive spike in chakra up ahead. Shikamaru stopped, glancing at me with a questioning look to see if I had felt what was ahead, and I nodded grimly. We made it to the edge of the forest and took in the scene of some white haired sound ninja fighting against Lee, making my eyes widen in surprise considering last I had heard he was still recovering from the surgery Tsunade had performed. Something seemed off with the taijutsu expert, however, he was almost wobbly on his feet and was moving in an extremely unpredictable manner and I wasn't convinced it was not the result of upsetting his healing injuries.

"Is he..?" I asked quietly, watching as Lee went head to head against the enemy shinobi admirably.

"He's drunk." Shikamaru deadpanned

"Wha-?" I asked, shocked that someone could fight like that so inebriated. It was definitely an.. Interesting style, his Drunken Fist. We quickly got serious again when something changed with his opponent and the sound shinobi took on another form, much like the opponents we had faced before had. I scowled as I saw him punch Lee, causing the spandex clad Konoha ninja to fly back. "Those damn curse seals."

"Can you hold him for a moment while I think of a plan?" Shikamaru asked, seemingly hesitant to ask.

"I've got this bastard." I growled, notching three arrows and jumping from the tree, releasing them in mid-air before my feet touched solid ground.

The sound-nin had bones growing out of him, which was one of the creepiest sights I have ever seen, and he deflected two of the arrows easily. The last, third arrow hit him dead on in the chest but the metal arrowhead shattered on impact, leaving the wooden shaft to fall harmlessly to the floor and me to gape at him.

The next thing I knew, the man was in front of me and throwing a punch with his bone re-enforced fist. I activated my Sakimonagan, grimacing as I felt the drain on my chakra and at the realization I wouldn't be able to use it long, and I rolled to the left with my bow still gripped firmly in my hands. The future was changing rapidly, basically in real time and only giving me split second warnings before the guy was on top of me again. He threw an uppercut and I twirled to the side to avoid it, jumping over the sweeping kick he lashed out with next, and then using my arm to push his next punch upwards so it went above my head. It was like I was hitting a stone pillar and the limb barely avoided crashing into my head.

I kicked out with my right leg, which he didn't even attempt to dodge, and I attempted to push off of him and flip backwards in order to get some distance. There was no way I was going to even come close to winning, or more honestly lasting much longer, in a close range fight with this guy. Even though my kick didn't cause him to move an inch, I pushed off with the leg and for a second thought I had succeeded until I felt his hand clench around my ankle painfully. I let out a grunt as he swung me around, driving me into the ground, and I rolled as soon as I landed and he let go to avoid the follow up punch which left a small dent in the ground where my head had previously been.

By the time I had gotten up, he was on top of me again, and I used my bow like a blunt weapon. The wood was incredibly resilient and I used the bow to move his fist to the right, whipping it up and catching him on the chin with the other end. He attempted to knee me but I moved slightly to the side, having seen it coming, ducked the arm he swung out as well. As fast and as gracefully as I could, avoiding his attacks, I got through his defense enough to push the bow against his chest so that the bowstring was parallel to his collarbone. Using the last bit of chakra I had, deactivating my Sakimonagan in the process, I flipped over his head and twisted the bow so I landed behind him, both of my knees driving into his back, and I pulled the bow as hard as I could so the string was taut against his throat. I used all the strength I had, pulling back as much as I could, and felt the last of my chakra deposit into the wood.

"Kyujutsu: Steel Strangulation!" I grunted, watching as the bowstring caught the line as it hardened with satisfaction. I felt the sound-nin hit the ground on his knees, his hands coming up to his throat, but I kept pulling as though my life - as though Shikamaru's life, depended on it.

I heard the man make a guttural sound in his throat, my eyes widening at the fact that he could make any sounds at all with my bowstring digging into his throat in what was supposed to be a fatal manner. He jerked his head forward slightly, causing me to lean forward at the unexpected action and alleviating some of the tension around his neck accidentally in the process, only for him to drive backwards with even more force. My knees, still digging into his back to give me leverage, disconnected and I had the strangest sensation course through my body, almost as if I was flying.

I watched helplessly as the bowstring snapped against his neck while I was launched backwards fifty feet, clenching my teeth together in pain as my body skidded across the ground after finally connecting. The wooden bow, the upper limb and lower limb no longer connected by a string and thus incapable of firing arrows, was still gripped tightly in my gloved hand. I struggled to lift my head, my sore body protesting as I launched to my feet with the wooden bow spinning in my hand just in time to deflect the bone sword that had been launched towards me by my opponent.

The sound-nin's eyes narrowed, watching me silently while I steadied myself. I pulled an arrow from the quiver strapped to my back like I had a thousand times before, the feeling of the dyed green and white feathers between my fingers almost therapeutic, and clenched the shaft in one hand like a dagger while holding the now almost useless bow in my other hand. Though my eyes never left him, it was as if the white-haired shinobi was a blur as he moved, dashing towards me with killing intent falling off him in waves. I readied myself, watching carefully, and then jumped backwards quickly to get out of the way. The sound-nin stopped in his tracks, his pale eyes showing frustration, anger, and disbelief.

"Shadow possession complete." I heard Shikamaru rasp out, which made me want to relax but I held myself up with the knowledge that the fight wasn't over as motivation to remain on my feet. Shikamaru's shadow was stretching from where he was behind me, to my own shadow, and then underneath my legs to connect with the sound-nin's.

Shikamaru had launched his shadow out, hiding it within the depths of my own shadow, and I had waited until the last moment to move so he could push the shadow forward just enough to capture our enemy. Despite myself, my lips twisted at the corners into a satisfied smirk as I readjusted my grip on the shaft of the arrow in my hand. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lee getting to his feet, a somewhat dazed expression on his face as he took in the scene in front of him.

My eyes were quickly jerked back to our opponent when I heard Shikamaru call out a warning; The sound ninja's curse mark had pulsed with energy, the black marks extending out like tendrils across the pale expanse of his chest while I watched on in morbid fascination as even more bones grew out from his torso. In what seemed like slow motion, although was truthfully incredibly fast paced, the sound ninja broke the hold Shikamaru had over his body and jerked his hands up towards me so that all of his fingers pointed in my direction, the shadow that had previously held him immobile now retreating rapidly back to Shikamaru's position behind me.

"Digital Shrapnel!" I heard him yell out in a quick, hard and angry tone of voice. I watched as white objects, which I barely registered as bone, shot out from the tips of his fingers. I felt panic take over my body, my first reaction was to dodge to the side, but Shikamaru's last known position was directly behind me. Out of options, chakra, and the time necessary to come up with a better solution, I brought my arms in a cross, with both the arrow and bow still gripped firmly by my hands, and braced myself while trying to cover the vital areas of my body with my arms.

The small chunks of bone, some of the pieces moving faster than others for an unknown reason yet causing a staggered attack, made a sickening sound as they pierced my arms. I felt them drive through my flesh, my muscles, and finally my own bones as easily as water passes through the fingers of a child when they cup it in theirs hands from the river during the summertime. I felt the first one stop in my upper arm, having made a hole clean through my forearm already before coming out on the other side and losing momentum as it drove into the muscle. The next piece of bone went clear through my thigh uninterrupted, the one after that lodged itself inside my chest cavity, most likely either piercing my lung or having damaged it in some way if the sudden pain and struggle to breath meant what I thought it did.

My body jerked as each piece made contact, burning through my body with more ferocity than anything I had experienced prior, and I distantly heard someone yell out in a desperate voice even as my vision began to blur and get darker around the edges. I must have closed my eyes for a moment, bracing for the remaining bone fragments, because when I opened them again it was to a golden, constantly shifting wall spread out in front of me protectively. Even though I was quickly becoming unconscious, I saw a red-haired boy around my age shift in front of me with a blank expression on his face, almost casual in his manner while examining the sand spread out in front of us and watching carefully as more bone fragments sunk into the sand shield, which followed the bone as it attempted to tear through the shield, slowing the momentum down until the fell uselessly to the ground on the other side.

I heard more voices, what sounded like incredibly high speed winds, and what followed was the sensation of being caught up in a particularly powerful windstorm. I couldn't hold myself up any longer, my eyes fluttered shut as I collapsed onto the solidly packed earth. From what sounded like leagues away, I heard Shikamaru desperately calling my name and I could partially feel my body being shaken by someone. Everything seemed so abstract, as if I was removed from the situation, floating away like one of the clouds Shikamaru watched so often with what I would almost classify as reverence in his steady and intelligent eyes.

I tried to force my eyes open, only being able to crack them open for a split second before a heaviness forced them shut once more. I noticed absently that it was a beautiful day, a bright sky filled with layers of clouds that appeared endless in their depths, a fluffy kingdom that was ever changing for the amusement of those who cared enough to watch.

The last thing I remember thinking, even as my body relaxed and I began to feel like I was floating without a corporal body to stay anchored to, was that I hoped Shikamaru was okay.

It would be a shame for him to miss out today, the sky looks so beautiful.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, so it was longer than I thought between updates; which appears to be, unfortunately, a recurring theme in my life. I saw the reviews, which made me smile and want to update with a desperate fervor, and I have finally completed the next chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this one, I can honestly say that it didn't go the way I originally thought it was going too.**

 **To my lovely reviewers: Thank you for the encouragement, the wonderful thoughts, and kind words that you've given me! You have all handled the time in-between chapters gracefully and without pressuring (read: heckling) me into posting faster! I truly appreciate all of this more than you know. If anyone has any ideas or an interaction they would enjoy seeing as the story unfolds, let me know and I'll do my best to include it or at least talk to you about it.**

 **Thanks for all the love and see you next chapter!**

 **~Rache**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

"Oh Kami everything hurts." I groaned, my eyes still firmly shut after attempting to open them when I first regained consciousness. Pain lanced up my arm as I tried to make a fist and a quiet hiss of pain escaped my mouth.

"Ren?" I heard a normally lackadaisical voice ask tightly. I nodded, my eyes still shut and not quite ready to face the barrage of light that would hit them when I finally opened my eyes.

"Thank you." I heard Shikamaru whisper so quietly I almost didn't hear it. I could hear shuffling that indicated he was moving around and I turned my head towards where I thought he might be when he put an arm on my shoulder.

"Did we win?" I croaked out, licking my dry lips and sighing in relief when I felt Shikamaru putting the water to my lips.

"Against the creepy bone guy, yeah." Shikamaru said, his voice still tight in a way I had never heard it before. I slowly opened my eyes a little, ignoring the jolt of pain behind my eye sockets, so I could see my.. See Shikamaru better.

His face was drawn and haggard, his hair more tousled than normal, and I could see dark bags under his eyes as though he hadn't slept in a few days. He was in his normal clothes, the chunin vest with the Nara clan symbol on the back and a mesh undershirt on underneath it. We were both silent as our eyes roamed one another's forms, mine checking for injuries and his most likely doing the same.

"Sasuke got away." Shikamaru said heavily, breaking the silent moment between us.

"I'm just glad you got away." I replied honestly, frowning when I saw the corners of his mouth tighten into a hard line.

"You should have dodged." Shikamaru muttered, sitting back into the chair next to my bed. "I know why you didn't. You let your emotions cloud your judgement."

"I did what I would do for any teammate." I said, eyes narrowing slightly at the hard edge to his voice.

"You should have trusted me to dodge." Shikamaru snapped back with his fingers balled into fists at his side as he fought to remain calm. Shikamaru was not normally one prone to anger or overly emotional encounters so I felt a little out of my depth as the Nara vented his frustration out. "You almost died! Is that what you wanted? Why were you so reckless?"

"Of course no-" I attempted to protest, only to be drowned out by the other boy.

"You almost died. Choji almost died. Neji, Naruto, Kiba.. God, I almost got us all killed." Shikamaru said, his eyes becoming distinctly misty as he clenched my blanket into a fist. "For what? A failed mission? Sasuke still got away."

"Come on, Shikamaru." I demanded softly, moving over on the bed in order to make room for him before patting the spot next to me. He only hesitated for a moment before clambering into the bed as well and with the additional warmth pressed up against me, we were both sound sleep within the hour, our fingertips just barely intertwined

* * *

 **Shikamaru's POV**

Shikamaru stretched languidly when he woke up, feeling his sore shoulder protest at the movement. He felt like he had just taken an amazing nap, something he hadn't had in quite awhile, so he opened his eyes to find out what woke him up.

He almost jumped in surprise when he realised that he was in the hospital laying down in Ren's bed. Said boy was still sleeping peacefully with a small smile playing at the corner of his lips, Shikamaru let his eyes trace the other shinobi's face as he slept, memorizing the curves and the expression.

Ren looked so soft like this. His hair didn't have it's usual braid, there were not feathers in his hair, and the gentle expression on his face in combination with his bed hair made a part of Shikamaru ache in an unfamiliar way. Shikamaru brought his hand up, leaving only a miniscule amount of space between his hand and Ren's skin, tracing the line of his jaw and pushing a stray piece of hair out of the way of his closed eyes.

"You care for him."

Shikamaru flinched, dark brown eyes jerking to the doorway where Kakashi Hatake was leaned against the door watching the two occupants of the bed. They stared at one another, the silence filling up the room like smoke during a fire, neither one willing to be the one to break it. Shikamaru slowly retracted his hand and shifted off the bed, being careful not to jostle Ren in the process.

"I was there the day he was found. She saw something in him, a baby who had been abandoned to survive on his own. Most babies would have been screaming or crying but Ren was so quiet. His eyes saw so much even then." Kakashi said quietly, his voice carrying easily in the small hospital room. Shikamaru listened, his eyes never leaving the copy ninja and his mind racing. "He's a survivor."

"Yeah, he is." Shikamaru agreed, eyes flickering back to the brown haired boy fondly.

"If he's precious to you, let him know and enjoy every moment you have with him." Kakashi advised, a far off look to his eyes. The copy nin didn't wait for a response, with one final look at the two on the bed, he disappeared from the doorway and allowed the door to click shut behind him.

"Mm, Shika?" Ren asked groggily, eyes fluttering open. Shikamaru looked at the other boy as he woke up, a gentle smile on his face as he watched the dazed expression on Ren's face. "Wha's goin' on?"

"Nothing, Ren." Shikamaru replied, standing from where he had been sitting on the edge of the bed. "I need to head home. I was officially supposed to be released an hour ago."

"When do I get to go home?" Ren said, a slight whine to his voice that Shikamaru refused to admit he thought was adorable.

"When I say you can." A female voice said from the door, which was now open to reveal a blond haired and amber eyed woman who was looking between them with the hint of a smirk playing at her lips. Tsunade looked at Shikamaru with raised eyebrows before coming over to the end of the bed and lifting a chart attached to the end, casually flipping through it. "How are you feeling?"

"Really sore, Godaime-san." Ren admitted, watching the Hokage read his chart with wide eyes.

"Tends to happen when you have bones go through various parts of your body." Tsunade replied snarkily, shutting the chart firmly. "Next time don't be there to get hit."

Ren's eyes flickered over to Shikamaru's for a moment, an embarrassed and nervous look on his face that made Shikamaru regret his harsh words earlier. Shikamaru smiled at Ren to convey that he wasn't angry at him and by the way the other leaf nin's shoulders relaxed, he had understood.

"Shikaku was looking for you earlier." Tsunade said pointedly, looking at Shikamaru and then at the door.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered, sighing under his breath. His lips twitched into a small smirk when Ren laughed because of what he had said and it made him feel just a little bit lighter. "I'll come back later."

"I'll probably be here." Ren said, rolling his eyes and huffing dramatically. Shikamaru chuckled lowly when Tsunade cuffed him upside the head.

"You can't hit your patients!" Ren protested as Shikamaru made his way to the door with a full blown smile on his face. Just as he reached the door, Ren called out to him one more time. "Tell Yoshino I said hello!"

Shikamaru threw his hand up to let him know he had heard the other boy and shut the door behind him, shoving his hands in his pockets as he made his way down the hospital hallway.

* * *

 **Ren's POV**

The next week was really tough. My body had taken quite a beating and I had intensive physical therapy, which drained a lot more out of me than I thought it would, and so I mostly slept when I wasn't eating or doing the physical therapy exercises.

Akari's parents stopped by to see me and so did Choji, Naruto, and Kiba as well. Shikamaru was pretty much always around unless he was busy and we had quite a few interesting games of Shogi while we waited, such as the one we were playing now. I felt like every time I played Shikamaru I got better, I never used my Sakimonagan unless he asked me too for an additional challenge, but I was having a hard time concentrating today.

I watched Shikamaru as he thought, his eyebrows furrowed and a contemplative look on his face. I loved watching him strategize; his normally half-lidded eyes became sharp and I could practically see the cogs turning in his mind. The way his long fingers moved the Shogi piece and the little satisfied smirk he would get when a strategy pans out just the way he wanted it to.

"It's been your turn for awhile." Shikamaru said, that same smirk on his face present when my eyes jumped to meet his own dark brown ones.

"Sorry, I got lost in thought." I murmured, looking at the board and noting which piece he had just moved while I was busy staring.

"What were you thinking about?" Shikamaru asked

I could feel his eyes on me and I could imagine the way they narrowed slightly, his head cocked a couple of centimeters to the side in a silent question to mimic the tone of voice he used. How well I knew his mannerisms and the weight of his gaze on me made my cheeks flush. I refused to make eye contact with him in my present condition so I pretended to study the board while I answered quietly. "Nothing. Just been lost in thought lately, being cooped up and bored."

"How's the therapy coming along?" Shikamaru asked

"Well enough." I replied, moving to capture one of his pieces with my own but stopping at the last minute when I realized he had been baiting me. I quickly moved a piece instead, looking up at him and smiling when I saw his eyebrow twitch in concealed surprise. "I can get around okay. Tsunade will probably release me in a day or two. I have another couple of weeks before I can train again though, maybe a month or two before a mission."

Shikamaru hummed thoughtfully to himself and we played out the rest of the game in silence. It wasn't long until he had won the game and I rolled my eyes; I hadn't even gotten to set up the tortoise defensive position I had wanted to try from a Shogi strategy book that Yoshino had given me. 'If you're going to be around as much as I think you are, you are going to need this' She had said, smiling beautifully at me. I had been red for several minutes after she left, wondering how I should take her words and what they meant.

"Want to get out of here?" Shikamaru asked casually, slipping his hands into his pants pockets and huffing with laughter when my hand jerked and spilled a few Shogi pieces. We both cleaned them up and I glanced at the door to make sure that it is shut.

"Don't tease me, Nara." I said warningly, feeling hope bubble up inside me at the serious expression on his face.

"No way, that would be too troublesome." Shikamaru said, shrugging his shoulders. "I just thought you might want to get out and maybe grab food that is not from the hospital."

"Yes! Oh god, yes!" I shout whispered, looking around as if Tsunade would pop out of nowhere to put a stop to our potential escape.

"Good." Shikamaru said, smirking. "Because the distraction should be any second now."

"Distract-?" I started to ask, only to be cut off by a loud noise down the hallway. Shikamaru grabbed my hand and tugged me behind him, opening my door and looking both ways before stepping out into the hall.

All the staff and medic-nin's were running down the hall towards a giant blob in the middle of the hallway. I could hear someone yelling in a high pitched tone of voice and loud groans coming from that direction as well. Something about the blob seemed really familiar, I just couldn't-

"Is that Choji?" I whispered as we snuck down the opposite hall, craning my neck backwards to see what was going on.

"And Ino." Shikamaru responded, snickering and then slapping my arm gently when he saw me looking. "Are you a shinobi or what? Stop looking, it's suspicious."

"Sorry." I said sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head. "You have the best friends."

"Yeah, I do." Shikamaru said, the fond look on his face that I know used to decorate mine when I thought of my teammates. Now it was a sharp stab of pain and a grief stricken look, I'm sure.

"Sunshine! Oh I've missed you!" I yelled as we got out the doors without being stopped, throwing my arms out in celebration.

"So dramatic." Shikamaru drawled, walking beside me as I practically skipped along the paved sidewalk.

"Can we get dango?" I asked excitedly, ignoring his comment and bumping his hip with my own playfully.

"Sure." Shikamaru said, shrugging as he spoke.

We walked to the dango stand together and got three sticks, one for Shikamaru and two for myself because it had been far too long. Shikamaru asked what I wanted to do next and I gestured towards the park I liked to go to in order to walk, so we took a walk together and talked about everything. I learned that he met Choji because they wouldn't let the Akimichi play ninja when they were kids so Shikamaru left the game to go hang out with him. I told him about the time that Akari, Rafu and I played a prank on Akari's parents by putting all of their furniture on the roof.

"Wait, you guys did that?" Shikamaru asked, holding his stomach as he laughed while I described how hard it had been to get the bed up on the roof.

"Yeah! The best part was we were supposed to be another three days on a mission, so they had know idea who did it! If it wasn't for Rafu's mom telling them she had enjoyed having Akari and I over, they never would have known." I said, laughing myself as I thought about how mad Akari's parents had been.

"That's great." Shikamaru said, shaking his head from side to side in fond exasperation. It felt good to talk about the good times I had with them, it made the pain a little less harsh.

We continued our walk and I learned a lot about his clan, how it felt to grow up as an heir, and how he felt about the relationship between Yoshino and Shikaku. Shikamaru told me about how Ino was a great friend and that she wasn't as shallow as a lot of people thought - she was just more insecure than she let on. It was her way of protecting herself, only showing people the vapid and surface parts of herself. It made me rethink how I viewed her altogether and I promised myself to get to know her a little better.

We ended up going to the tree and laying down on the grass, watching the clouds drift by as the day dragged on. It is one of the best days I've ever had and it was in this moment that I felt infinite. I was warm in the sun, could feel Shikamaru beside me and encompassing me in his smell, listening to the easy way he breathed, and enjoying myself without a care in the world.

I startled a little when I felt something grab my hand and blushed when I realized it was Shikamaru, intertwining our fingers together, all of the while still with his eyes closed and face leaned towards the sun. Something about the peaceful look on his face, the sun making his tan skin glow, and the way he licked his lips gave me a burst of courage.

"Wha-?" Shikamaru started to ask, his eyes opening and widening just before my lips covered his own.

He responded after a second, moulding his lips to my own as we slowly explored one another. He tasted like berries, dango, and something distinctly Shikamaru. My hands were on either side of his face and one of his hands were on my waist while the other came up to cradle my jaw. I moaned slightly when I felt his tongue probe tentatively into my mouth, eagerly meeting it with my own in order to deepen the kiss.

It was nothing like our last kiss - this one, which started out slow, had a fire to it that I hadn't even realised was missing until now. We kissed until we were both breathing heavily, panting against one another with our foreheads touching and bruised lips only centimeters apart. If I could, I would kiss this man for the rest of my life - forget being a shinobi, I'd die a happy man right now as long as I could keep kissing Shikamaru Nara.

It was a perfect day.

 **A/N: So this was really fluffy - sorry about the long time between updates! I lost my internet and I still don't have it! I'm at a friends house now! I'm trying to write but I need to get back into the swing of things ;) Thank you for the lovely reviews and hopefully you guys like this fluffy little time filler!**

 **~Rache**

.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Ye be warned, there be some graphic content ahead! (I'm watching Pirates of the Carribean, hence the pirate talk.)**

Chapter Twenty

" _Lullaby, and good night, in the skies stars are bright._

 _May the moon's silvery beams bring you sweet dreams._

 _Close your eyes now and rest, may these hours be blessed._

 _'Til the sky's bright with dawn, when you wake with a yawn._

 _Lullaby, and good night, you are mother's delight._

 _I'll protect you from harm, and you'll wake in my arms._

 _Sleepyhead, close your eyes, for I'm right beside you._

 _Guardian angels are near, so sleep without fear._

 _Lullaby, and good night, with roses bedight._

 _Lilies o'er head, lay thee down in thy bed._

 _Lullaby, and good night, you are mother's delight._

 _I'll protect you from harm, and you'll wake in my arms._

 _Lullaby, and sleep tight, my darling sleeping._

 _On sheets white as cream, with a head full of dreams._

 _Sleepyhead, close your eyes, I'm right beside you._

 _Lay thee down now and rest, may your slumber be blessed._

 _Go to sleep, little one, think of puppies and kittens._

 _Go to sleep, little one, think of butterflies in spring._

 _Go to sleep, little one, think of sunny bright mornings._

 _Hush, darling one, sleep through the night,_

 _Sleep through the night,_

 _Sleep through the night…"_

I sang, gently rocking the baby to sleep as I did so, smiling a little as I watched the eyes close. After three weeks of being in the hospital recovering, I was well on my way to being out of here, but Tsunade insisted on keeping me for three more days. I told the Medic-nin's that I was going crazy doing nothing so they let me help out in the baby part of Konoha's hospital.

"I always forget what a nice voice you have."

I flushed, refusing to turn around, and gently laid the baby on its crib. The baby had been fussy even after getting changed, fed, and burped so I sang to attempt to get the little thing asleep. It had worked but I had been so distracted because of the singing and rocking motion I was doing to get the baby worn out I hadn't noticed Shikamaru come in.

"You are terrib-" I started to say, beginning to turn around now that my face felt less hot, but it warmed right back up as Shikamaru's hands went around my waist and prevented me from turning. He pulled me tight against his chest, where I fit snugly with my head coming up to his nose.

"You smell nice." Shikamaru said in his raspy voice, lower than he usually would and sending a jolt down to my crotch because of the combination of his words and the way he was nuzzling my neck. I could feel his breath on my ear and it made me break out in goosebumps.

"Shik-AH!" I yelped as he bit down, both of our hands flying to my mouth to cover it so another sound didn't come out. We froze, watching to see if the baby would wake up, and I heaved a sigh of relief when he didn't. I wiggled against Shikamaru before all but hissing my next words "Shikamaru, not in front of babies."

"Mmm, so anywhere else?" Shikamaru asks rather suggestively and I don't have to turn around to know he has a serious expression on his face but that the dark brown, half-lidded eyes would be dancing in amusement.

"Insufferable is what you are." I said, beginning to turn around but once again being stopped from doing just that.

"Just doing my job." Shikamaru said teasingly, his warm breath ghosting over the top part of my ear, making me shiver in anticipation and delight. Shikamaru bent down just a tiny bit and nibbled on the lobe, making me startle and begin to harden in my clothes.

"Kami." I hissed, controlling my breathing. "We need to leave this room."

"Why's that? I thought you loved kids." Shikamaru asked, finally letting me turn around and giving me the most innocent look possible.

"I-... You-... Nevermind. Let's go." I all but ordered, grabbing his hand and pulling him behind me. I heard him huff in amusement as I dragged him out of the nursery room and out of the maternity ward in general. We came to some stairs and right before the stairs was what I was looking for.

I opened the door to the storage closet and shut it quickly, locking lips with Shikamaru and locking the door behind me after a couple of tries while never removing my lips from his. The kiss was needy, hot, and something we have been doing a lot lately. Ever since we got back from the last mission, we couldn't keep our hands off of one another - I was thoroughly enjoying it. I never would have imagined the lazy Nara would be such an.. Energetic person to make-out with.

He was a terrible tease, which was both amazing and awful at the same time. He knew exactly what to do to wind me up and played me as well as a Shogi board. He knew what moves worked, how anything to do with my ear and throat drove me insane. Unlike in Shogi, I knew his weak points as well - he loved to get his hair pulled and when I nibbled on his lip during a kiss it would always get a strong reaction from him. We hadn't gotten any further than kissing at this point, and if this is what it would always feel like, I'm not sure how it could get any better with him.

"Mmm, Ren." Shikamaru groaned as I pulled his hair a little, making me smirk wickedly at him. He looked at me through half-lidded eyes and with a fire in his gaze that I could feel scorching me. His voice got even huskier and deeper, something I didn't know was possible, but it had my dick standing at attention. "I love when you sing."

"I'll sing you anything, especially if this is my reward." I replied instantly, my face heating up a little as our breath mingled with each others.

"You have no idea what you do to me." Shikamaru said, grinding down on the hardness in my pants with his own, making us both moan lowly from the friction.

"Shika." I begged, not really sure what I was begging for in the first place. We resumed kissing and now grinding on one another, chasing the friction and the impending release. Shikamaru had me boxed into a wall, one hand curled on my waist with a grip strong enough that it would probably leave bruises and the other hand was pressed to the wall next to my head.

"Let go." Shikamaru said into my ear, his voice barely above a whisper, and two thrusts later we both came undone while being as quiet as possible. I leaned my forehead against his chest, listening to the faster than normal pace of his heart and grinning to myself because I had caused that. This beautiful, lazy, genius Nara reacted to me like that… It was amazing and I'd thought about it ever since I saw him in The Forest of Death, the second time we met.

"We have to get to my room to clean up." I panted, still a little out of breath but beginning to feel the semen drying up in my pants.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered, sighing a little bit and kissing the corner of my mouth. "Not as troublesome as how sticky my pants are - this is going to stain."

"You can wear some of my clothes." I offered, smiling at the boy who scowled in return. We had tried to let him wear my clothes before but the pants ended up looking like Capri pants. I shrugged off his glare before responding, giving his hair a gentle tug. "I tried to tell you Capri's are in style."

"Ugh, you're the worst." Shikamaru complained, rolling his eyes. Looking down at us and our noticeable stains in the front of our pants, I scanned the closet to find something to cover us - it didn't take a genius to know what went down. My eyes lit up when they landed on a blanket and I draped it over my arm in order to strategically cover the stain.

Shikamaru did the same after snorting in amusement, most likely because it was still kind of obvious we were hiding something. Thankfully, we made it to my room without incident aside from one medic-nin we ran into but she barely spared us a second look.

"I'm going to take a shower." I announced, grabbing a towel from the linen closet and a change of pants from my bag.

"Can I join?" Shikamaru asked with a straight face, making me falter for a moment.

I'm not sure I am ready to go that far or to even really see each other naked, to be honest, although I doubt I'll be anything but more than satisfied with how he looks naked. It's just that I wanted to take things slow, I am stil kind of worried that all of this is because we almost saw each other die, and I want it to be because we care for each other deeply - maybe even love.

"I'm joking, Ren." Shikamaru finally said, a grin breaking out on his face. I threw a book from my bag at him, which he neatly dodged while barely moving, and then I shut the bathroom door on his smug face. "Let me know if you want help washing your back!"

"Fuck you!" I sang

"Remember, I always thought I'd be the one doing the fucking.." Shikamaru said, trailing off and making me snort water. As I said earlier, insufferable.

"Shikamaru?" I called out when he never finished the sentence, wondering what was going on. I washed my hair fairly quickly, then the rest of my body, and was out of the shower and opening the door within five minutes. "Shika, what is goin- Oh... "

"Oh indeed."

"Um… Ahem.. Hello, Lady Tsunade." I greeted her, waving awkwardly. I glanced at Shikamaru and wanted to burst into laughter at that very moment. He was sitting on my bed, a pillow on his lap to cover the stain in his pants, and his face is flushed red from embarrasment. If I had to guess, Tsunade came in during the last thing he had said, which was when he was by my door, and that means she probably already saw the stain.

"Ren, I heard you were helping out around here." Tsunade said, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, yes, just a little with the babies though." I replied nervously, forgetting she had said absolutely no work. "Nothing strenuous."

"Good to hear, I just came to release you early since you have been doing so well." Tsunade said, smiling as I whooped with joy at being let out. Shikamaru smiled a me as well, still being quiet, but I celebrated. I hated being here the last month, it got so boring so quickly.

"Thank you! Can I start training?" I asked, grabbing some clothes and throwing them in my bag along with a couple of books around the room.

"Not yet, wait five more days do strenuous." Tsunade said, smiling indulgently. She turned to leave and right before she got to the door she stopped and turned to look at the two of us. "Oh, and congratulations, but I want to mention one thing - sex does count as strenuous activity."

"Oh Kami." I groaned, burying my face into my hands while I heard Shikamaru spluttering to come up with a response. Tsunade laughed at our reactions before leaving, shutting the door on her way out.

It was silent in the room for a moment, both of us just staring at each other while completely red in the face, until I burst out into laughter at the incredibly awkward and partially amusing situation. How is this our lives? Shikamaru looked at me like I was crazy for a minute but pretty soon he started laughing as well, the sound of both of us filled the hospital room like the sun at dawn.

We laughed until we were crying and could barely breathe, clinging onto each other for dear life, and I hoped that maybe, just maybe, we were going to have some peace for awhile. Time for long talks and make out sessions, getting to know one another, and time to figure out where we stand. For now, I was content to just laugh until I couldn't anymore with this beautiful, lazy genius named Shikamaru.

 **A/N: Thank you to all of my lovely reviewers! This is another fluffy chapter but I think we could use a little fluff, so could Ren and Shika, after all of the terrible shit that has happened to them lately. It will become a little more serious, a little less light hearted, and most likely more graphic as we move on.**

 **I'd love to hear your input on the chapter and I hope you all continue to read! You guys are amazing! Also, check out the new story I started about Shisui/OC - it's called Finding Home. Thank you so much once again!**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Without further ado, the next chapter about Ren and Shikamaru!**

* * *

 **Chapter 21**

 _'THUNK'_

I looked up from the scroll I was reading when the weapons pouch hit the table and made a noise that seemed quite loud in the relatively quiet eating area. My eyes naturally went next to find the source interrupting my studying only to see Ino Yamanaka with her hands on her hips and a scowl aimed directly at me.

"Yes?" I asked finally, quickly getting tired of the silent stare off when I could be using the time to study the scroll in my possession - a nifty thing Akio, Akari's father, had allowed me to borrow in order to learn the jutsu that it described. Jutsu were closely guarded secrets, even among allies if it was a high level one, and a shinobi never allowed another to learn a technique from them lightly. It was a high honor and I wanted to master it as quickly as possible to prove to Akio I was worthy of his trust and support.

"You need to motivate your boyfriend." Ino replied bluntly, sinking into the chair opposite of the one I was currently occupying and folding her hands together. She had a slightly victorious look on her face, as though by speaking first I had given her some kind of power over the conversation.

"Hm.." I thought about Shikamaru while I made a considering noise to give off the impression I was thinking over the Ino's words. Truthfully, I was actually thinking about this new thing he had done to my ear last night. We had been kissing when he began to lightly bite down on the top part of my ear, soothing over the slight sting with his tongue and then blowing warm air softly - I loved it. The noise I made was indignified, somewhere between a moan and a yelp, and Shikamaru had stared at me like a puzzle for a moment before smirking at me as I pulled him back down to resume our make out session. I knew my Nara, however, and he had stored that little bit of information away to use later. I hope it's soon.

"Helloooo?" Ino growled, waving her hand in front of my face and I fought down the blush trying to spread out on my face, focusing back on the present and the kunoichi who had a look on her face - one that said she was imagining all the ways she could kill you.

"I'm sorry, just tired." I lied to an unimpressed Ino, making sure that I hurried to ask my next question before she could respond so I wouldn't have to hear what her opinion was on my current state of mind. "Motivate him how and to do what?"

"To take a mission!" Ino exclaimed in exasperation, throwing her hands up in the air. "All he's been doing lately is moping about how everyone nags him to do a mission. I really think if he went out and completed a mission, he would stop feeling so depressed."

"Shikamaru is moping?" I asked skeptically

"Yes!" Ino replied

"So you want me to do… what, exactly?" I asked her, leaning back in my chair a little bit and tilting my head as I considered the request. "Nag him like everyone else? Because let me tell you - it won't work. Plus I'm a terrible nagger."

"I don't care HOW you motivate him, just do it." Ino almost shrieked, quieting down when another person occupying the eating area shot her a harsh look. Ino sent back an apologetic face and then turned to meet my eyes with her own - which honestly freaked me out a little, the pupiless thing not the color or the staring. "Look, withhold kisses or.. Or tell him you'll cook for him or take him somewhere special with a reward. I don't care."

"What is this really about?" I asked doubtfully, following it up with a stern look when she opened her mouth and then closed it immediately afterwards without saying anything. "Ino, just tell me. I promise you I have heard worse."

"I need Shikamaru to quit distracting Choji by just sitting around - Choji and I need to train harder than ever so we can make Chuunin." Ino finally said, slumping in her seat for a moment. "Choji is easily distracted and they act like nothing's changed but it has. If Choji and I don't make Chunin, they may try to break our team apart."

"Okay." I said, rolling the scroll up that had previously been lying open on the table after Ino's unexpected arrival.

"Okay?" Ino repeated, turning the statement into a cautious inquiry as I stood up from the table. She stood as well, walking around to stand beside me as I threw the scroll into my bag and slung the back on my back.

"Okay." I confirmed, nodding once before adding "You should have just asked from the start. Think about all the time we wasted dancing around like that."

"Yay!" Ino cheered right before throwing her arms around my neck and squeezing me in a vice like hug.

"I-no" I choked out, squirming "C-can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry about that." Ino said in one of the most unapologetic tones I have ever heard in my live before smiling at me innocently.

"Whatever." I sighed, turning around and walking toward the Nara compound to find Shikamaru. I highly doubt Ino would let me do anything else until I talked with him anyway. Besides, maybe afterward I could get him to do that thing with my ear again..

"Ren!" Ino called out, making me jump a little in guilt because of where my thoughts had been going. Damn teenage hormones. I turned around to face Ino and crossed my arms across my chest, simply staring at her. She smiled sweetly "He's at Training Ground Twenty Three with Choji. It was where we were practicing until Shikamaru came and distracted Choji with food."

I snorted because that does sound exactly like something my boyfriend would do if he was bored and wanted to get his best friend's attention. I turned left and waved my hand behind me, calling back out to Ino right before jumping into the woods where I could tree hop to the training ground. "Yeah, okay. On my way."

My hands reflexively went through the proper seals that allowed me to Shunshin close to the training ground. I stayed in the trees as I made my way to where I could now hear Shikamaru and Choji talking in friendly tones. I kicked off the last branch with enough force to allow for an agile flip in the air before landing in front of the two boys. Choji grinned when he saw me and Shikamaru's closed eyes twitched before opening halfway, a slow smile making it's way onto his tanned face.

"Hey Ren, want some barbeque chips?" Choji asked while proffering his snack in my direction, shaking the bag full of chips to emphasize his offer.

"No thank you, Choji." I replied with a fond smile for my boyfriend's kind hearted teammate.

"I thought you were trying that new jutsu today?" Shikamaru commented as he casually lifted himself up from his back, leaning on his forearms instead with his legs sprawled out, and lifting his head towards me so he could look at me properly.

"I was." I agreed, humming a little as I flopped down beside him so that I was sitting down with my legs crossed. I made sure our thighs were touching and I felt my stomach flip slightly as the warmth from his thigh seeped from his leg into mine. Shikamaru turned towards me a little, no longer having to crane his neck to look in my eyes now that I was also sitting on the ground with them, and he opened his mouth to say something only to get cut off as I pressed my lips to his in a chaste kiss. "I tolerate you."

"I tolerate you as well." Shikamaru replied, pressing his lips to mine and completing our little ritual.

"You guys are weird." Choji voiced in between the crunching sounds the chips made as they were ground into smaller pieces between his teeth with each hand full eaten. "I mean, you are so well suited for one another. I hope I find someone like that one day."

"Of course you will, Choji." Shikamaru said instantly, speaking to reassure his friend instantly. It was one of the reasons I was so fond of him - he was so loyal to those who he called a friend or family. Shikamaru was the kind of person you could depend on for anything - advice, reassurance, help, or just a calm presence.

"I think so too." I chipped in, the smile on my face widening in response to the bright look on Choji's face after hearing us.

"You guys really think so?" Choji asked with a hopeful tone of voice

I scoffed, my hand moving towards Shikamaru's even as I spoke so I could twine our fingers together. "I've eaten your Tonkatsu. Just feed whoever the lucky soul is that and you have nothing to worry about."

"Thank you!" Choji exclaimed, reaching around Shikamaru to pat my bag eagerly. The fond look I saw Shikamaru caused my cheeks to get a dusting of pink and he squeezed my hand in a silent thank you. I shook my head no, silently communicating that I didn't do it for him but because of how wonderful Chouji is. "Alright, I better get going you two! Thanks for the kind words!"

Shikamaru and I both said our goodbyes to the Akimichi heir and watched his retreating back until it was obscured by the woods surround the training ground we were currently laying down in. Shikamaru's head turned towards my own when Chouji was out of sight and he smiled, this time a little more reserved.

"So." Shikamaru said without taking his eyes off of my face. "Ino told you to find me, huh?"

"Yes." I answered honestly

"She wants you to convince me to do a mission." Shikamaru said, once again phrasing what should be a question into a statement. I opted for a nod to confirm his thought and he let out a slow sigh, brown eyes focusing on a patch of grass that he began to tear up as a distraction. "And?"

"And what?" I asked as I ran my thumb lightly along his knuckles, committing each dip and line to memory.

"Are you going to tell me to do a mission? That I should step up and do my job?" Shikamaru burst out in an uncharacteristic show of impatient annoyance.

"No." I said simply, fighting to stop my lips into forming another smile because of the surprised look displayed on my Nara's face. It was not often that I got to shock him so I did try to enjoy it when I could but this was not the time for such a petty pleasure.

"Why not?" Shikamaru asked cautiously, his voice returning to the normal, slow and almost drawl-like tone I was most familiar with.

"Well…" I shrugged, considering my answer carefully before verbalizing it. "I guess because I'm not your mother or your friend with good intentions. I trust you inexplicably and I honestly believe that when you feel it is the proper time to do something, it is the proper time for you. I'm not here to tell you what to do or trick you into doing what I want you to do - I'm here to support you in whatever you want to do."

Shikamaru was silent for a moment while he absorbed my words before gripping my hand more tight than he had ever before, bringing it off of the grass between us and onto his legs. It was as if he wanted the physical comfort without having to ask for it.

"What if I want to open a store that sold Shogi pieces, boards, and other games?" Shikamaru asked suddenly, his expression extraordinarily intense and piercing as I met his eyes.

I considered the scenario, taking a little bit of time to think about how I would feel about Shikamaru giving up his hitai-ite and retiring young in order to work as a civilian. I could feel my lips stretching upwards as I thought about it, the idea making me oddly happy. "I would say I better get free tea and then tell you that if you need any help scouting for buildings to use as a store, I would be happy to tag along with you."

Shikamaru stared awhile longer at me, his face now unreadable, before tugging me into a bruising kiss. My lips moved against his pliantly, his tongue running along my bottom lip as a way to ask for permission to enter my mouth and deepen the kiss. My tongue met his and the passion turned into sweet, languid movements as we playfully explored the inside of one another's mouths. I loved the way Shikamaru tasted; I could taste the barbeque chips he must have eaten with Choji and then, underneath that, was pure Shikamaru - a taste I was thoroughly addicted to the more I was exposed to it.

Reluctantly, we pulled apart and Shikamaru rested his forehead protector against my own, the metal plates making a quiet clinking sound as they tapped against one another. Sometimes we did this, just looking into each other's eyes and I swear it was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I had never felt my mind quiet so much and cease to think about the past or the future, I was completely present in the moment with him, drawn in my dark eyes. I could read the silent thank you and I kissed him briefly to let him know that he had nothing to thank me for.

"I do think I should say that we lost no one on the last mission and even though people got hurt, and we did not overall succeed, the level of our opponents was mostly to blame." I said gently, watching his shoulders tense up as I brought up what had been weighing so heavily on his mind. "Not to mention, the person we were attempting to rescue and bring back was not willing to BE rescued - if he had been, I think we would have been successful."

"So you think I should go on another mission." Shikamaru concluded bitterly, once more with his eyes downcast and focused on watching his hand pull of the grass.

"I think you should do whatever it is you believe will help you heal." I corrected softly as I grabbed the hand ripping grass and, after gingerly flipping it over so the palm was face up, running my thumb softly over the skin on his wrist.

"I don't know what that is!" Shikamaru growled in frustration. "I mean, am I a part of Team Ten still? They need to prepare for the next Chunin exams. I don't - so does that mean I am being reassigned while some newbie genin takes my place?"

"I… I can actually answer that." I replied, feeling a little guilty for having kept the vision to myself when I heard how upset not knowing was causing my boyfriend.

"You can?" Shikamaru asked speculatively with his eyebrows raised

"I believe I will take your place as the third person on their team - Chouji and I have worked together once before and it is only a matter of learning how Ino fights. I'll be approached soon, I believe, by Lady Tsunade." I informed him, watching his eyes widen before a satisfied look covered his face.

"Well, if anyone can keep an eye out for them, it's you." Shikamaru remarked casually, shoulders relaxing a little as I took away some of his worries. They would only temporarily reassign Ino, Shikamaru, and myself - this meant he still had his team once they gained the rank of Chunin. In the meantime, he would work with them still unless it conflicted with a mission assigned to him by Hokage.

"Two eyes; As often as I can spare them." I promised, not allowing his nonchalance to hide what he had said - what he had meant. That he trusted me with the lives of his best friends, his team mates, and the silent request to watch out for them was one I eagerly agreed to as well with a humbled "Thank you".

"Yeah, yeah - don't be troublesome." Shikamaru said as he waved his hand dismissively.

I huffed a laugh at my lackadaisical boyfriend and we laid on the grass for another hour and a half, only getting up when Shikamaru's stomach had growled for the fourth time in a five minute span.

"Wanna come to my house?" Shikamaru asked me

"Hmm.." I brought my hand up to my chin, pretending to think about it. I brought my hands down quickly and grabbed his pants, pulling the fabric so that he stumbled forward. His body rested flush against mine, my stomach fluttering as his warmth seeped into my body. "I'd love too."

"Oh really?" Shikamaru murmured, leaning forward so our lips pressed together. I smirked a little right before our lips touched, simultaneously finishing the seals behind his back so Shikamaru would be caught off guard.

"Wha-" Shikamaru started to say, jerking his lips away from my own just as I used the body flicker to yank us both away from the clearing and near the Nara woods. I would have gotten us right into the compound or in front of it but I was afraid of being seen as a trespasser or even worse, disrespectful. I didn't grow up in a clan so I wasn't sure how I was supposed to act while dating a clan heir - so sometimes I erred on the side of caution.

"Oh Kami." Shikamaru groaned, leaning his forehead against my own and taking a deep breath.

"You okay?" I asked innocently, failing to smother the smile threatening to overtake my face.

"You are so troublesome." Shikamaru muttered, finally pulling away and pouting a little when we made eye contact. I rolled my eyes, removing my hands from his narrow waist, and bumping his shoulder gently with mine as I lead the way to his clan's compound.

"Come on, lazy bum." I called behind me without looking back.

Shikamaru caught up to me easily with his long legs and within five minutes we were at the Nara compound, Shikamaru nodding to a Nara guard with familiarity and we both entered without any hassle. As we passed the guard, Shikamaru asked about the man's wife - who was expecting a child - and casually talked with the man about his life. It left me in awe, just a little, because I was catching a glimpse of how Shikamaru would be when he was the head of his clan. He was going to be an amazing leader for his family but it wasn't because of any training or lessons in how to lead - he would be amazing because he actually cared about them and their lives. I was it in the moments he spent helping a little Nara girl get her ball down and when he helped a Nara elder get the upperhand in a game of shogi, only to help the other man get it back and leaving the game exactly as it was when he arrived. Shikamaru was just a good man and I could not wait to watch him grow up to become an even better one.

'If I grow up to be much older than I am now.' I thought pessimistically, thinking of the dreams I had been having lately. It was rare that I saw more than a few minutes into the future and I had never been able to activate it on demand - it was something that came unbidden, usually in my sleep. Lately I had gotten glimpses of my death and I was not sure if it was a vision or not - the fact that it was my death made me hesitant to speak to anyone about it but I was getting less and less sleep.

"You okay?" Shikamaru asked, garnering my attention once more and making me realize we had walked through the compound and made it to his house.

"Yeah, of course." I replied, forcing a smile and gesturing for him to enter first. Shikamaru stared at me for a little longer, making me shift uncomfortably, but he eventually nodded slowly before entering his house.

"Tadaima." Shikamaru called out in his lazy drawl, the both of us taking off our shoes and putting on slippers instead while leaving the shoes at the door inside the basket.

"Okaeri!" heard Yoshino call from the kitchen, making me smile. I always teased her that whenever I came over she was always in the kitchen.

"Oh, Ren! What a nice surprise!" Yoshino said, smiling at me and gesturing for me to have a seat at the table.

"The kitchen again, Mrs. Nara?" I asked cheekily, enjoying the laugh it got from both Yoshino and Shikaku. I glanced at Shikamaru, barely catching the fond expression he had been wearing while looking at me, and I sat down after he had chosen a chair to flop into.

"Well if you ever came for something other than food, Ren, you would see me somewhere else!" Yoshino retorted, pointing her wooden spoon at me threateningly. "And how many times do I have to tell you to call me Yoshino?"

"At least once more, Mrs. Nara." I replied with a grin, completing the little ritual the two of us had unconsciously started.

"Shikamaru, I don't know how you ever tricked him into liking you but you better keep it up," Yoshino teased with a fond look at the both of us, making me flush red.

"Alright, Yoshino, stop embarrassing them." Shikaku drawled in the same way Shikamaru did occasionally.

"Ren's the only one embarrassed." Shikamaru commented, a mischievous look in his eye I didn't like. "He looks good red anyway, I don't mind."

"You know, Yoshino, there WAS this waiter at a cafe today who was really nice to me and I think he was going to ask me for coffee but Ino interrupted." I said loudly with a pointed look at Shikamaru.

"A waiter at a cafe asking someone out for coffee?" Shikamaru snorted, shaking his head back and forth. "How original and romantic - talk about bringing work home."

"Whatever." I grumbled childishly, folding my arms across my chest in mock irritation.

"Do you like that kind of thing?" Shikamaru continued, sitting up a little with that slow smile on his face that drove me crazy. "Because I could invite you to spar or sharpen our kunai together?"

"Sharpen your kunais?" Shikaku asked with an eyebrow raised at his son, turning so I was the only one who could see the wink the older Nara sent me. "Is that what they call it now? Son, I don't think that's appropriate talk in front of your mother - at the table, no less."

"What!?" Shikamaru exclaimed, straightening up and flushing red as his Dad twisted his words. "Th-That is NOT what I meant, obviously, I meant that-"

"Alright, Mr. Nara!" I cheered, raising my hand and leaning forward to slap my hand enthusiastically against the Nara clan head's own hand - he raised it, expecting the gesture, but showed his lazy Nara side by letting me do all the work by reaching over to slap his hand while he just held it in the air.

"You're all against me." Shikamaru mumbled, crossing his arms and slouching in his seat. I snickered, rubbing my foot against his calf affectionately underneath the table. He smiled at me, letting me know he was only exaggerating, and I settled into my seat feeling utterly content. Yoshino finished whatever she was doing at the oven and turned to begin serving the food to us all.

"Shikamaru, sit up straight in your seat." Yoshino reprimanded as she placed a few pieces of tempura on his plate. Shikamaru straightened instantly and I covered my laugh with a cough, a useless attempt if the amused look from Mr. and Mrs. Nara and the betrayed look from Shikamaru was anything to go by.

"Traitor." Shikamaru mumbled when his Mom was out of earshot and I just grinned wide enough to show him my teeth.

We said thanks for our food and promptly dug in and I made sure to compliment Mrs. Nara on her cooking at least four times and then offered to clean the dishes when everyone was done. Shikamaru and Shikaku retreated to the garden outside while I helped Yoshino clean up after dinner, something I honestly enjoyed. Yoshino was a smart woman and an excellent conversationalist - she also was an expert on motivating Nara men, something I needed currently.

"Mrs. Nara, I have a question and I was wondering if it would be overstepping to ask you it when it relates to Shikamaru." I broached the subject bluntly, knowing she would rather me do so than tiptoe around it for twenty minutes.

"As long as it is not anything clan related or something I feel he should tell you himself, or that he would rather you not know, then I will do my best to answer honestly." Yoshino answered after considering my request for a moment, pausing to articulate her answer and ignoring the half dried dish in her hand.

"Ino asked me to get Shikamaru to take a mission so he will stop distracting Choji. I told him Ino asked me to do so, I would not lie to him after all and I'm not stupid enough to attempt to manipulate him." I explained, receiving a laugh when I said I was not stupid enough to attempt to manipulate him - something no intelligent person should honestly try. "I do think he should get back in the swing of things though."

"Shikamaru's like his father. He does things in his own time and sometimes it drives me crazy - the only thing you can do is nag until they do it or just have patience. Talking to him and explaining why you think he should take a mission would be a good place to start."

"Yeah." I agreed, thinking over her words as we finished up cleaning.

After the dishes were finished, I joined the two Nara men outside and watched as they played an intense game of Shogi. It always amused me to attempt to use Sakimonagan during these games because the strategies changed so many times, sometimes only half formed, that it was like watching the game sixty times in my visions when, in reality, only three pieces were moved. I honestly learned so many strategies this way that it was an excellent way for me to improve.

"Hm, sloppy tonight." Shikaku voiced as he moved his piece, resulting in a victory for himself. Shikamaru sighed, not bothering to debate Shikaku's statement.

"Good game." Shikamaru said instead, placing his hands on his back and leaning backwards to stretch his back. I barely heard the crack made by his back as he did so, too focused on the way his throat looked when his head was thrown back like that. I watched, entranced, as his throat muscles flexed in order to allow him to swallow the last of his tea.

Shikamaru coughed, breaking me out of thoughts that had me flushing more than I had at dinner, and my head turned to where Shikaku had been sitting only to find the man gone. I thanked Kami in my head for allowing to me avoid that embarrassing moment, at least, before focusing once more on Shikamaru.

"Walk you out?" Shikamaru asked with an amused expression and I nodded, not trusting my voice to work properly and not embarrass me further. I closed my eyes to activate Sakimonagan, seeing if anything would happen on my walk home - or as far as I could tell so far - only to think about inviting Shikamaru back to my apartment at the same time. My mind was filled with the vision of what could happen if I asked and he said yes, making me trip a little on my own feet and cough violently.

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked concernedly, his hand so warm it was practically burning through my shirt to warm my spine. I shook my head but Shikamaru was not having the bullshit answer this time. "I saw your eyes flash blue! You saw something and it made you react like that. What is it?"

"Uhh.." I trailed off, unsure of how to go about telling him. After deliberating for a moment, I decided to just rip it off like a band aid and stood on my tip toes - my mouth just a millimeter from his ear as I whispered to him a description of what I saw.

"I was thinking about inviting you to my apartment while using Sakimonagan and I saw us there." I whispered, taking a breath to explain further only for him to interrupt.

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked hurriedly, his body tense and breaking out in goosebumps from the breath against his ear.

"You came back with me and I offered to get you something to drink. We talked before we began to make out, rutting against one another like we have before, and I… I reached to pull off your shirt. You ripped mine and ran your nails lightly against my back, leaving small scratches." I explained, my voice lowering as I got both embarrassed and turned on. I could feel my pants beginning to tighten, the blurry and decent pictures I had seen that suggested an indecent action. "That happened for awhile before I uh…"

"You what?" Shikamaru asked huskily, looking me in the eye and captivating me completely as I watched the black pupil, surrounded by dark brown, expanding to cover most of his eye as a testament to his current state of arousal.

"I unzipped your pants and I put you in my mouth." I whispered, the words so low Shikamaru probably had to strain to hear them. "I-I think I liked the taste because I moaned at the same time as you and I wanted to.. To suck on you more."

"Oh, Kami.." Shikamaru groaned, his head hitting the wall we had somehow ended up standing agains.

"You said that too." I told him quietly, my cheeks burning as I spoke but another part of me enjoying the reaction I was getting from my words. "I think you liked it. You gripped my hair and you were thrusting up and I could tell that I really wanted you but then it ended."

"Ahh…" Shikamaru hissed, thrusting his hips forward to press his firm length against the one straining inside my pants. My embarrassment eased as I felt the evidence that he was just as affected as I was and I nipped his earlobe, pulling on it with my teeth, as I ground my hips against his own.

"You have no idea what you do to me." Shikamaru growled in a way I had never heard but it sent an electric bolt down to my groin. I let out a small yelp as I felt both of his hands grip my ass, one hand for each globe, but thankfully it was cut off midway by both mine and Shikamaru's hand covering my mouth.

Hesitantly, my hand slipped from it's position over my mouth and Shikamaru's followed my example. I felt my member give another twitch when his hand slid back down my back, settling firmly on my butt and softly beginning to knead the two mounds resting in his hands.

"You're evil." I whimpered, my hand sneaking down between our clothed bodies.

"I just like the little sounds you make for me." Shikamaru whispered back, his breath on my ear this time and causing my knees to tremble slightly as I stood pressed against him, my shorter frame fitting in his slightly taller one perfectly. "It makes me want you so bad to know that I'm making you sound like that - that you are making those perfect little noises because you want me."

"I want you so bad, Shikamaru." I agreed, my voice slightly unsteady. I was past the point of caring about pride and how I shouldn't be begging him to touch me, that I was fine before I Met him - Shikamaru was a drug and I was hooked.

"We can't tonight." Shikamaru said regretfully, pulling away from me and tearing a whine from the back of my throat.

"Why?"

"I want to finish a mission." Shikamaru said hesitantly, looking slightly to the left instead of directly in my eyes. "Then, when I get back, if you still want to…"

"Of course." I answered instantly, eyes softening and cupping his cheeks with my hands. "We have as long as we want."

"Yeah." Shikamaru replied, nervousness fading away and turning into excitement, longing, desire, and a little impatience. "Soon, though."

"Maybe." I said, laughing when he swatted me on my butt. I gave him a chaste kiss and pulled away, walking out of the shadowy alley between two Nara buildings. Shikamaru walked me the rest of the way to the gates before we said goodnight, the guard out of sight in order to give us more privacy.

"I hope you know now I have to get friendly with my right hand tonight." I whispered in his ear so quietly that is was too low for the guard, who was most likely nearby, to overhear.

"Oh come on." Shikamaru complained, his head collapsing on my shoulder. "Now it's all I will think about it."

"Think about me moaning your name, thinking about how much I want to taste you.." I whispered, the devious side of me treasuring the glazed over look my boyfriend was sporting at the moment. "Think about how I might even put a finger inside me, imagining it's yours, and how I'll scream your name when I finish - thinking about you, your body, your mind, and your cock."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru mumbled, shaking his head and subtly adjusting the prominent bulge in his pants. I grinned, giving him one more chaste kiss, and then walked away from him feeling as light as a feather. I had only gone a few feet when I felt him grab my wrist and jerk me around, catching my waist with his hand and capturing my lips in a kiss deep enough for me to taste him. We both moaned quietly and broke apart when our lungs screamed for air, panting from the lack of oxygen but staring dopily at one another.

"What was that?" I asked in between breaths

"I just wanted to show you that.. I tolerate you." Shikamaru replied, a cheeky smirk on his face that made me want him even more.

I smiled, shaking my head and my hands sped through the proper seals to perform the body flicker - though I only moved so I was twenty feet away from him. I waved once, the smile on my face refusing to fade, and only called back behind my shoulder as I walked towards my apartment.

"I tolerate you as well."

* * *

 **A/N: It has been over a month… a month and a day! Gosh, I lost my muse on this story but I finally found it long enough to write this chapter! I hope everyone enjoys this and I hope to see way more reviews! The more reviews, the faster the chapter! If there are over 100 followers, I should have wayyyy more reviews than this! Come on guys! Anything to say? Any ideas, thoughts, emotions? Let me know!**

* * *

 **READ! REVIEW! FAVORITE! FOLLOW!**

* * *

 **Love always,**

 **~Rache**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Two Separate Parts

I groaned after opening my eyes, immediately closing them again afterwards. The sun was bright this morning and streaming right through my window in an attempt to blind me. I covered my head with my thick comforter, opening my eyes once again now that I was shielding them. I could see the light even through the thick blanket but it was heavily muted at least.

I wiggled on the bed to find a comfortable spot, freezing suddenly and wrinkling my nose in disgust - my body was sticky. My right leg basically just peeled off the other; I can also feel how damp the sheets and blanket are. My nose wrinkled in mild disgust after making the mistake of breathing in while my head was underneath the blanket, the smell of stale sweat filling my nose unpleasantly.

"Egh!" I exclaimed, quickly following up with a loud gagging noise after - I had accidentally sucked in the thick, muggy air trapped within the confines of my blankets and drew it into my lungs. Breathing in the pungent odor of sweat and damp cotton threw me into a coughing fit, leaving my lungs burning slightly after the irritation subsided.

I remembered to turn my head at the last moment as I whipped the blanket off of my head, avoiding the sun and taking a heavily desired deep breath of untainted air outside the confines of my blanket. I rolled to the side of the bed, facing the wall that lay opposite of the windows with bleary and half-lidded eyes, another groan escaping at how disgusting I felt. I ignored the damp sheet and blanket, both of which had absorbed a healthy amount of my sweat throughout the night, and climbed out of the bed.

My feet touched the floor and I instantly corrected my movements to become soundless subconsciously - the years of conditioning my body to do such things without thought kicking in. I padded across my wooden floors lightly, moving across the one bedroom apartment before stopping at the dresser containing my clothes. My eyes gravitated to one particular area of the wall - the filled up space slightly above my dresser. There lay my most recent and maddening obsession: a calendar.

Shikamaru left for his mission sixteen days ago and his projected time of arrival was exactly twelve days, which is why there were the numbers one through twelve written in green pen starting on the 3rd of March and going through the 15th of March. The four days afterwards were marked in red pen, indicating he was that many days late. All Shinobi know that it is not uncommon for somebody to be late coming back from a mission. There is an unspoken rule followed by all active duty shinobi that it's only after the seventh day after the expected return date, unless there has been a mission extension request or an update of any kind, that you should begin to worry. I attempted to keep calm as another day passed without news but I was finding it increasingly difficult not to imagine the worst scenarios my macabre imagination could generate.

As I have the previous four days, I activated my dojutsu while standing in front of the calendar - focusing on Shikamaru - his eyes and the way they crinkle at the corners when he is amused, the shape his hair is when tied up, and the feel of his warm hand leaving tingles behind in the wake of feathery touches. I concentrate on the way he walks with his hips swinging a little, how he stands with one hand on his cocked hip while the other is in his pocket, and the sound of his voice - a voice too raspy for someone his age, especially when compared to our peers - both those in his age class and my own. I could feel the chakra funneling into my eyes and the drain beginning to pull the chakra from my core at an ever increasing rate.

Everything seemed to stop, the world almost feeling as though it were frozen in time, and I saw a indistinct blurry image that very well could've been Shikamaru in his thinking position. I held the image, clenching my hands into fists as the chakra drained at a faster rate the longer I held the image, and watched as his eyes slowly opened. As soon as I saw the brown irises I have become so familiar with as of late, I was forced to deactivate the Sakimonagan or risk my chakra getting too low.

"Ah!" I shouted out, slamming my clenched fists into the dresser hard enough to shake the wood. The last four days everything was totally black! I had been so close that time! With a disappointed and worried scowl, I grabbed the red pen laying on the dresser and marked the X on the calendar hard enough to put the marker through the paper accidentally.

I took a shaky breath in, letting it back out less shakily. I repeated breathing in and out until I felt myself stop panicking. I felt helpless without being able to See what was going on - which, in turn, reminded me of Rafu and Akari. It was a constant nightmare I have to see them and for them to tell me that if I wouldn't have been so blinded by Shikamaru, I could have seen their death and prevented it. Then the truly ugly side of myself came out and wondered if I saw both events, who would I have picked back then? What about if I had to choose now?

I shook those thoughts from my head and pulled some clothes from my dresser, walking into the bathroom and laying them on a shelf beside my towel. I relieved my bladder, flushed the toilet, and climbed in the tub underneath the warm water falling from the shower head. The water pressure combined with the heat stung sharply against my tense back, most likely coloring my skin a sunburnt red fairly quickly but it felt far too good for me to either lower the heat or the pressure.

I could feel the sweat, dirt, and lethargy wash off of my body before spinning around the drain. The feeling made me moan - a long, drawn out blissful noise one only acknowledges in solitude. Quite a bit of my time has been spent in solitude lately, with Shikamaru gone. It feels ludicrous to miss him after so short of a time but it doesn't change the fact that I do. The time apart did have one positive effect, however, and it was making me realize that I was using Shikamaru to an extent - using him as a crutch.

Almost all of my time since Akari and Rafu were killed has been spent with Shikamaru. The time I've spent alone reminded me that I can't depend on Shikamaru for everything- it's not fair to either of us if I do so. There is just a lot I want to say to Shikamaru; all he needs to do is get back alive.

Determinedly not looking at the calendar, I slipped on a dark purple mandarin collared shirt, long enough to go down to my knees but cut on the sides to allow for free motion. I tied my braid, green and white feathers woven in, and pulled my hair back into a top knot. I slung the quiver full of freshly fletched arrows across my back along with my new long bow. Walking to the Long mirror pressed against a wall, a bottle of paint in my hand, I stared at my reflection solemnly.

Hesitation.

Tentative, slow, but smooth hands lightly went through an almost ritualistic motion. Calloused fingers dipped into the creamy and glossy mixture contained by its spherical prison. My hand jerked back reflexively, surprised by the glacial temperature of the slick substance. I chuffed, bemused by my own skittish behavior.

Rubbing my forefinger and index finger together, I watched the paint spread out on the tips of my fingers; dark eyebrows furrowed above unfocused, unseeing stormy eyes. The nightmares had been getting worse lately. Akari and Rafu being butchered by THAT man almost thoughtlessly, as if the two people who had helped keep his world up were an afterthought - not worthy of attention or life. Seeing my own life end in a myriad of ways and locations, two recurring themes within a parade of possibilities; the silver haired man, curled and wicked, and a broken Shikamaru on his knees beside my broken and dying body.

My eyes raised from stained fingertips, looking into the glass surface cautiously; unsure, for the first time in my life, of what image would be reflected back. The first feature that demanded attention were haunted eyes, wide and open in blatant terror. There were dark bags underneath with lines that seemed to be cut into his paler than usual skin.

Shaking off any thoughts about the horrifying images tormenting my subconscious lately while I sleep, I dipped my fingers into the cold paint purposefully. With precise movements, I drew two thick lines of purple paint from my cheeks down to my jaw. I looked back at my reflection once more and thought about the photograph of Ren shown to me years and years ago. The thought of where I would be or what may have happened to me had this kind girl not taken me on as a burden by deviating from her mission and bringing an abandoned baby back to Konoha caused is always humbling.

It was a kunoichi who first told me about Rin Nohara, a girl who risked her life and broke protocol to save a defenseless baby she had never seen before. That was the day I promised, with Rin's friend and the memorial stone as witness, that her legacy would live on through me. I swore to protect this village just as she had before me. I would give my life without hesitation - a fair trade, I think, because without her and this village my life would lack purpose.

I let the melancholy thoughts slip from my mind like sand through fingers as I ran to the Hospital, utilizing the rooftops to save time and arrive for what would, hopefully, be my final check up punctually. I was itching to be assigned a mission after all of the time spent reading,'lightly training', and lazing around Shikamaru; the only thing standing in my way was the medical restrictions I was placed on at Tsunade and Shizune's 'suggestion' - which means they did not give a choice in the matter and seemed to even take a sadistic amount of glee from watching and enforcing my restriction.

I made it to the entrance of the hospital with more than enough time to spare before my appointment time. Despite my punctuality, my lips were tugged downwards into a frown. The reason for my displeasure was simple enough and, while expected, it was also unwelcome - I was breathing heavily. Far more heavily than I would have before taking 'time to heal' and allowing my body to 'recover from the trauma it's been put through.

I sighed in disappointment. I was out of shape.

"I'm here to see Shizune-san." I said to the receptionist, after finally having entered through the double doors.

The woman merely gestured for me to take a seat in one of the chairs on the left side of her oak desk after sending an unimpressed look my way. My feet remained firmly planted in front of the light brown furniture, one eyebrow raised challengingly. The receptionist maintained her apathetic expression while she continued flipping through a book bound in a blue cover, her eyes never leaving the page while she spoke in a clipped tone of voice. "She will be with you shortly."

I nimbly took a seat in one of the uncomfortable, straight backed chairs that filled the waiting room of the hospital. I idly wondered if they made the chairs this uncomfortable for a reason - maybe to discourage people from coming to the hospital for every minor injury?

I only had to wait ten minutes before I saw the double doors across the room swing open to reveal a dark haired woman - Shizune. I stood and made my way across the room, raising two fingers lazily in order to get Shizune's attention. She had been scanning the room systematically, most likely looking for me, and she perked up a little when she spotted my fingers in the air.

"Hello, Ren-kun." Shizune greeted, turning on her heel and gesturing for me to follow her back through the doors and down a busy hallway. She seemed to maneuver on autopilot, dodging staff members and patients alike in a seemingly unconscious dance that spoke of how much time she's spent in

The two of us reached a wooden door after a few moments of silent walking; Shizune pushed it open, scowling slightly when she heard the obnoxious creaking noise of protest it made as it was moved, but her features were soon schooled into a professional look once more.

"How are you feeling, Ren-kun?" Shizune asked as she pulled out a blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around my arm after rolling my sleeve up with nimble fingers.

"I'm fine." I answered readily, smiling slightly. "I am more than ready to resume training and taking missions. I have been going a tad bit stir crazy as of late. How are you, Shizune?"

"I'm busy, you've probably seen how hectic everything is today - it's been like this since Lady Tsunade and I returned." Shizune grimaced, the sour look fading away when she smiled in satisfaction - the pleased look that went along with it was a good sign. It was because of whatever the device she held relayed to her concerning my health.

The check up went normally and the two of us continued to exchange small talk about the going on's in the village while Shizune did what she needed. She shined a light in my eyes and had me follow it slowly, hearing was impeccable, sight good, and I didn't feel sore or tight when doing the stretches she asked me to do.

"Alright, Ren-kun. You seem as healthy as can be - taking it easy combined with the physical therapy exercises has done wonders for you." Shizune declared from her hunched over position while writing something on a sheet of paper she had pulled from the file in her hand as she spoke. She straightened up and held out the paper with an easy smile on her lips. "Give this to the mission desk so they know you have a clean bill of health and you'll be okay to return to active duty."

"Yes!" I exclaimed with a grin stretching across my face from the good news. "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!"

Shizune laughed as I pulled her into a tight hug, gently tapping me with her palm on the back of my head in a fond manner. "I didn't do anything. I told you if you took it easy and did the exercises, you'd be perfectly fine."

"Well thanks for the advice anyway!" I shouted, cringing sheepishly when a resounding bang echoed in the small examination room - someone next door obviously caused the noise as a warning to keep the noise down, which was a bit redundant considering they made a loud noise to stop one.

"Come on then." Shizune said, shaking her head in exasperation. "Let me walk you to the front and then watch you run away to try to hurt yourself again."

"Ha. Ha." I replied sarcastically, winking to let her know I was teasing just as she was to me. I was glad Shizune decided to take me back to the waiting room as we took another few turns - with all the changes going on, now that Tsunade is here and reorganizing, the sterile hallways seemed like a chaotic maze with too many people inside trying to find a way out.

Shizune opened the door to the waiting room and i flung myself out of the doors, keeping a straight face as I breathed dramatically and cried out about how wonderful fresh air is to finally suck in. I quickly scampered out of the Hospital completely after hearing Shizune's threat about running a lot more tests if I kept being a brat.

My mood was better than it had been in a long time and I headed straight for the training ground; I have been lightly training since I was released from the Hospital but the lack of missions, which means lack of money, has been keeping me anxious. Finally, I was free to take missions again! I practically buzzed with energy and made the decision that I am going to celebrate my return to service by finally attempting the new jutsu I have been studying out of the scroll Akio gifted me with.

Smiling at the sight of a empty training ground, I took my bow off of my shoulder and lovingly caressed the smooth wood as I got into the firing position. It was similar to tying a shoe; I reached back and felt the feathers of an arrow brush against the tips of my fingers before I pulled the projectile from the quiver and nocked the arrow.

With my feet shoulder width apart and my target in sight, a nice log a few hundred yards away acting as my 'target', I took a deep breath and released the arrow just as I breathed out. In that moment, the twang of the bow sounded as wonderful as the voice of a friend you've missed terribly and are finally able to see.

' _Thunk'_

My brow furrowed in confusion and honest bewilderment. The arrow, still quivering minutely even as it stuck out of the piece of wood, was off my mark. I smoothed out my face and pulled the next arrow, lining up the shot, breathing out as I release the arrow.

' _Thunk'_

'A little better' I thought to myself, narrowing my eyes at the vibrating arrow stuck deep into my makeshift target. I drew the next arrow almost mechanically. 'But not good enough.'

I practiced for two hours until the arrows I fired consistently struck where I intended them too. After the fifteenth perfect shot in a row I took a small break, carefully placing my weapon against a nearby tree and stretching my back muscles to prevent them from becoming too stiff. I drank a few mouthfuls of water, during which I also mentally reviewed the handsigns and other aspects of the jutsu I was about to attempt.

I let my chakra gather in my core, feeling the warmth in my midsection as I focused the energy before utilizing it. After I felt as though enough energy was together, I concentrated on converting the gathered chakra and funneling it into the Earth Release technique. My hands went through the signs easily and on the last one, I slammed my hand into the ground.

"Earth Release: Tracking Projectiles Technique!" I shouted as soon as my hand made contact with the ground, simultaneously releasing the pent up chakra.

I watched happily as three projectiles shot out toward the tree I had chosen, at the last minute, to target. The three projectiles hung close to the ground and rocketed towards the prone target at a surprisingly high speed. The impact creates more noise than I had anticipated, forcing the ground to tremor as a result of the force of the explosion. I had thrown my arms up to protect my face the minute the tree was struck and it was that instinctive reaction that protected my uncovered face from the large pieces of splintered wood falling from the air.

I moved my arms out of the way and observed the location where there had previously been a tree - before it was decimated by my new jutsu. Only a blackened, charred, and dead stump remained behind. The grin on my face grew wider, stretching my cheeks enough that it began to be painful, but the amount of damage I caused the training area had me giddy with endorphins and adrenaline, both of which were flushing through my veins. I could not imagine why anyone would want to do drugs; there is no way any substance comes close to making someone feel as powerful, as invincible as I do currently. My smile began dimming slightly as I investigated my chakra levels, a jolt of shock jolting through my body like lightning because of how much chakra the jutsu had taken for me to use. Despite my now significantly lower chakra reserve, I inherently knew that I could preform the jutsu one more time without draining myself completely. I smirked devilishly as my hands began to once again flash through seals at a rapid pace. '

That boulder looks kind of sturdy..' I thought musingly while the smirk deepened. 'For now.'

* * *

Civilians gave me a wide berth as I walked along the street, my torn and dirt covered clothes repelling them faster and more effectively than the appearance of an enemy shinobi would have. The attention and wary glances was not the most pleasant reception I have been given but on the bright side, I was making my way through the streets faster than I ever have before. Even the Shinobi's Highway, also known as the roof's of Konoha's buildings, would get me somewhere only fractionally faster than my present pace allowed.

I felt significantly more at ease now, especially when compared to the restless and hyper aware feelings I had experienced almost constantly during the past few weeks. The vigorous workout I accomplished seems to have cleansed my mind in the same way a hot shower cleans a dirty body. A particularly pinched look I saw being directed at me due to my appearance reminded me of my current state. Stifling the laughter attempting to escape from my chest, I decided a shower might be a better idea before my next errand. It would mean I would be going past the store in order to reach my apartment and then have me walking back to the store to get everything finished I had wanted to complete today. At the end of the day, I will have done more work and spent more time than necessary by showering before shopping but I know the store owner will appreciate the extra effort.

'Hmm,' I thought, sniffing as little as possible to avoid the full effect but still determine the extent of my odor. My nose wrinkled up slightly out of disgust after I registered my own smell. 'Ugh, oh kami. The pre-shopping shower was no longer up for consideration - in fact, maybe I should just Shunshin to my apartment.'

' _Ping'_

My eyes had already noted the hanging bell that announced my arrival into the store - the kind of bell people placed to ensure every occupant knew when someone entered or exited the structure. Surprisingly, I even recognized the silver dragonfly insignia inscribed upon the silvery surface marking it as part of a brand popular within The Hidden Leaf Village. It would neither be strange nor noteworthy to see the very same bell, dragonfly and all, being used within more than half of the stores within Konoha.

The silvery instrument hanging above this particular door, unlike the numerous other bells placed by store owner's - which I had merely acknowledged as a device being used for an intended purpose, made me abruptly freeze. The bell had a reflective surface, something that is not generally worth mentioning - I would not even comment on it now if it was not for what I saw. It was not a reflective surface, instrument, or engraved insect that kept my feet heavy and unable to move. I would not react to any object with a increased heart rate.

It was gravity defying silver hair, held off to one side by a Hiatite. It was a blurry blob below aforementioned hair - a blob that I know is actually the reflection of a dark navy blue mask being used to cover half of a face. Despite the fact that the rational portion of my brain was screaming at me to ignore the wiry man non-chalantly leaning against a bookshelf in one a corner of the store, I was paralyzed by indecisiveness - should I greet him and continue on my way? Stay and have a conversation with him? Ignore him completely?

"-ello? Sir!" Just like how the world seemingly froze, everything snapped back to normal just as suddenly. It left me feeling disoriented, unfocused, and small. It took a moment for my mind to process the fact that someone was attempting to speak to me. I blinked a few times to clear the blurriness from my vision and focused on the concerned shop owner standing in front of me.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" I asked confusedly, trying to recall what the man had said while I was not paying attention.

"I asked if you are okay - you seemed a little dazed." The silver-haired, older man said, speaking slowly - most likely wondering if I was mentally handicapped or just stupid.

"I'm fine, sir." I responded, forcing a somewhat genuine smile on my face in order to appease the obviously worried man. I examined his hair briefly, ignoring the thought comparing his to Hatake Kakashi's own silver locks. Unlike Kakashi, this man's hair seems to have faded to gray with age rather than being the original, natural color.

The older man, who asked for me to address him as Atsushi-san, continued to hover for a few more minutes - I could feel his sharp, watchful eyes observing every move that I made. Being under such blatant scrutiny became uncomfortable very quickly and I had to reassure the man six times before he conceded and sat behind his desk.

I decided to just get the book I wanted and go back to my apartment. I looked through the shelves for a moment until I heard a sharp inhalation of breath to my right. Kakashi's one visible eye was opened more than usual and it was focused entirely on my face.

"Ne.. Hello, Kakashi-san. How are you today?" I asked uncomfortably, wanting to shuffle my feet under his stare but forcing myself to remain still.

"Your paint.." Kakashi muttered seemingly to himself.

"Oh, yeah." I replied anyway, reaching up to touch the purple stripes on my face. For a moment, I forgot I had the purple on my face - the same color the other Rin, one of Kakashi's dead teammates no less, wore. Guilt weighed down my stomach at the thought of how I'd feel if someone went around imitating Rafu or Akari. "I can take it off - I won't wear it again, I promise. I think I have water in my bag I can use or maybe Atsushi-san might have some.."

I continued to babble as I looked through my bag, finding my canister of water and unscrewing the lid. I moved one hand to dip it in so I could start scrubbing the paint off but a hand caught my wrist.

"Mah, mah, Ren-kun. I never asked you to take it off." Said Kakashi, his closed eye and the movement beneath the mask conveying that he was smiling.

"A-are you sure? I didn't mean.. I mean, I wasn't thinking about.." I could not figure out how to put what I wanted to say into words. This was the first time Kakashi has ever really been nice and I am afraid of messing it up.

Kakashi's look softened just the slightest, leaning a little closer to speak. "I think she would have loved it. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, after all. Just look at me."

Kakashi winked at the end of his sentence and I chuckled quietly - he was called the copy ninja after all. I looked at the shelf behind Kakashi and lit up when I saw the book I originally came to get.

"There you are! I've been looking for you!"

"It's funny that it is only when we stop looking for something that we find it, hmm?" Kakashi commented, turning to watch me take the book off the shelf. "So where is your other half? I haven't seen you without Shikamaru for awhile."

"I don't spend all my time with him." I grumbled, trying to hide the worry by being petulant but Kakashi was not a highly respected Jounin for nothing.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked, his eye narrowing a little when I didn't respond right away. "Ren-kun?"

"After we get out of the store." I muttered, brushing past him to pay for my book at the front counter. Kakashi and I both quietly payed for our books, and I promised Atsushi to come back soon.

' _Ping'_

A small smile formed at the sound of the bell ringing out as the door shut behind us. Kakashi allowed me a few moments to gather my thoughts without pressing me to speak, for which I was grateful. I saw the small side street I usually take as a shortcut to my apartment and I stood next to the wall after turning the corner.

"He's on a mission but something doesn't feel right, Kakashi-san. He's five days late." I began, wanting to pace as I spoke but quelling the urge. I saw the look on Kakashi's face - I could tell he thought I was a worried kid who missed their boyfriend. I cut him off before he could speak. "I know, I know - only after seven days should you worry and even then, sometimes unexpected things happen… but Kakashi, I cannot See him."

"You can't?" Kakashi asked slowly, his head tilting to the side as he considered my words. "Nothing at all?"

"It's been black for four days and today all I could see was a blurry image of Shikamaru in the stance he uses while thinking." I told him, thankful to finally have someone who knew about my dojutsu and will understand. "My chakra started to drain at an incredibly fast rate so I let the image drop."

"How are your levels right now?" Kakashi asked

I hesitated, briefly toying with the idea of telling him I am good to go but I knew that was reckless. Not to mention it could kill me - I can't die before I find out where Shikamaru is. I ruefully told the truth "Almost empty. I was practicing a new Hutus today and it takes a lot of chakra."

"Meet me at Hokage Tower in eight minutes." Kakashi told me, body flickering out before I could reply.

I stood there for a second before I realized what might be going on - Kakashi was doing something. He was taking me seriously! Hope filled my chest and I shot off towards the Hokage Tower as fast as I could run, using the Shinobi's Highway to make better time.

I only had to wait two minutes for Kakashi to arrive, a record for him I'm sure, and he silently gestured for me to follow him as he walked inside the building. I felt nervous as we drew closer to the Hokage's office, glancing at Kakashi every now and then to reassure myself - he seemed calm and controlled, so I took comfort in that. We stopped before the door and he knocked loudly.

"Come in!"

It was a loud and angry voice that called out a response. I swallowed my nerves as Kakashi opened the door and only our trained reflexes allowed us to dodge the paperweight that came flying out of the door to hit the wall behind us, creating a dent in the spot it hit. Kakashi seemed amused as he greeted the leader of our village.

"Lady Hokage."

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I hope you all enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think. I've been without internet, aka slowly dying, for the past month so it's been difficult. Thank you to all my kind and lovely reviewers! You all make writing even more enjoyable than it is with your thoughtful comments!**


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Mysteries in Konoha

The first thing I noticed after Kakashi and I dodged the paperweight is the piercing amber eyes of the Godaime. Lady Tsunade's eyes are the type that make people feel as though all their innermost thoughts are on display, transforming a person's mind into a book for the Sanin to peruse through at her leisure.

Amber orbs featured on her unblemished, oval shaped face. Her perfectly groomed eyebrows, the same golden hue as the hair framing her face, gave her a more severe look - making her expression more sharp, almost hawklike.

"What is it, Kakashi?" Lady Tsunade grumbled, briefly shutting her eyes while rubbing her temples as if to get rid of a headache.

"I assume you've been made aware of Ren-kun's rather special sight?" Kakashi asked casually, leaning against the wall casually.

Lady Tsunade's eyes snapped open as she scoffed. "Of course."

Despite the seemingly casual nature of the exchange between the two, I could tell Kakashi's statement garnered much more of the new Hokage's attention than we previously held - I was unsure whether to be thankful or wary of that fact.

"Tell her." Kakashi ordered me not unkindly, gesturing with one hand from myself to Lady Tsunade.

"I-I guess I need to know if you know how it works first?" I asked hesitantly, eyeing the Sennin as I spoke slowly out of consideration.

"You see the future." Tsunade said bluntly, raising one eyebrow as if silently requesting that I elaborate.

"Yes, sort of - I see many of them, mostly." I replied haltingly

"Hurry up, kid, this isn't the time for political correctness." Tsunade said pointedly

"The future isn't like a straight road - metaphorically, if the present was a man and there were an infinite number of paths, with each path being a possible future, then the future only becomes concrete once the man's taken the step down the road." I explained, mind racing as I fell back on the explanation I gave to Rafu when he found out for the first time. "Each future is different, some with small differences such as different colored flowers of the same kind on a path taken by the man and some futures have recurring similarities… things that are highly unlikely to change, similar to how a giant canyon may pass between many of the paths taken - these are the big events in the world, the ones which are more likely to occur. Much in the way that no matter what path was taken, the canyon would still interrupt the path - and few have no canyon at all."

"So some events are extremely subject to change whereas others are more concrete?" Shizune asked, mouth set into a tight line as she considered the analogy.

"Exactly." I agreed, gaining confidence after realizing at least someone understood. "Now, take into consideration that every single person alive has a myriad of paths to take with each decision -from small choices like what they decide to eat in order to break fast or the more monumental choices such as to take a life or declare war on a country."

"I need sake." Tsunade groaned, rubbing her temples once more and drilling holes into my skull with half lidded eyes.

"Basically, it's hard to 'see the future' without some idea of what one is looking for. I have to focus on one person, the more I know them the easier it is, and watch as they choose a path. Just like ninja can tell someone is about to punch them by observing tensing muscles, I can get an idea of what someone might choose. As soon as they commit to the choice, then it is a definite future and the other ones fall away." I surmised, hoping it was as clear as I thought it sounded in my head. "The other futures falling away generally just means a hundred more futures pop up - all of them ever changing, dependent not only on the choices to be made by the man walking the path I am watching but also the choices of any other people who may affect one, two, or all of the outcomes."

"Kami, just stop." Tsunade said, raising a slender hand with a grimace. "I get it - it's complicated and not very accurate until everything's happening. What is it you saw that requires an explanation like that?"

"Well, I am rather familiar with Chunin Nara Shikamaru, Lady Tsunade." I began, worry beginning to become audible in my tone the more I spoke.

"I'll say." Lady Tsunade interrupted with a smirk, stifling a chuckle at my bewilderment and the embarrassed look on my face.

"I monitor my friends if I am able too while they are on mission in order to ensure their safety." I admitted, hoping she would not blow a fuse since doing so could allow me to discover classified information on accident. Lady Tsunade's face twisted into an expression I did not recognize and was already smoothing over as she impatiently gestured for me to continue.

"I stopped seeing Shikamaru's future, something that has never happened to me before." I finished quickly, ditching all attempts to disguise how concerned I felt by it.

"I see." Lady Tsunade muttered quietly, only our sharply trained hearing allowing us to be privy to the words spoken almost to herself. She steepled her fingers on top of her desk, forehead furrowing minutely as she thought.

"I need a moment to consider what you have told me." Tsunade abruptly voiced, snatching a small scroll of paper and writing a few things down before looking back at Kakashi and I. "I'll summon you if I have any news or have need of you."

"Yes, Lady Hokage." Kakashi and I said simultaneously with a bow, leaving the office right after.

' _Snick'_

The sound of the latch on the door reverberated ominously in the large, vacant hallway outside Lady Tsunade's office. My mind was whirling as I considered every word said in the office in an attempt to predict what would happen next. This proved a fruitless endeavor considering I do not know the Godaime at all, so after parting ways with Kakashi and realizing there isn't much for me to possibly do, I made my way through Konoha's streets in the direction of my apartment building.

Despite having told a superior, THE superior - it doesn't get higher up the ladder than the Hokage, I couldn't help but to brainstorm various methods that could be capable of rendering my dojutsu unusable.

The first thought to enter my mind is another bloodline limit with the potential to counteract my 'sight'. I quickly dismissed this, however, after thinking on it further because I could not reason out what the purpose for such a kekkei genkei would be aside from canceling any other bloodline limits. Despite being in the realm of possibility, especially considering it would not be the strangest thing I've heard, it seems to me like such an ability would, at least, have rumors going around about it even if not known by Konoha as an actual ability someone possessed.

I absentmindedly stepped around a inattentive civilian stepping out of a store carrying a large piece of furniture as I considered the next possibility. A jutsu of some sort, possibly a genjutsu, that managed to block the Sakimonagan by fooling the target into believing they had no future or that caused me to believe I wasn't seeing anything when I attempted to look.

The idea of my vision being affected directly could not be possible without knowing when I would try to imagine Shikamaru specifically due to being able to see everything but him. A technique forcing the victim to not believe there is a future was slightly more believable, especially when considering that when one doesn't have a future there aren't any decisions to be made if they are doing nothing at the time, but still seemed far fetched. Prolonged usage would need a large amount of chakra and I can't think of anything the user of such a technique would gain other than the cessation of my specific ability. While not impossible, it is improbable after considering the amount of people familiar enough with the Sakimonagan to create such a technique. Not to mention the lack of motive for doing so in the first place - other than attempting to prevent me from finding Shikamaru or seeing something having to do with him.

The only cause I could imagine for that would be if he was on a sensitive or classified mission and, after thinking that, I was left with a theory that did not have much weight after taking into account the surprised response of the Hokage. Granted, shinobi were masters of deception, but it held little weight regardless - it would require too much effort and that combined with the likelihood of a chunin being given access to information sensitive enough to require such a undertaking made me continue thinking.

I tossed a few ideas around my mind the rest of the night, coming up with new ones and disregarding almost as quickly in many cases. After another frustrating attempt trying to 'see' Shikamaru the next morning, I gathered my things and left my apartment to head over to Akari's parent's house in search of a fresh perspective and homemade dango. I made my way out of the building with a single minded focus until glancing at a building I've probably passed over a hundred times this year alone.

My apartment building is located in a district populated predominantly by shinobi - I actually received a brief history of the district when I first checked out the building with Akari two weeks after graduating from the academy; It had been the third building we inquired after and one we stumbled upon on accident. The owner of the building told us on the day I was shown the one bedroom apartment that this building and the one a block away was built during the second shinobi war as temporary living for displaced shinobi and civilians alike. Once homes were rebuilt, civilians returned to them in order to raise families but a large amount of shinobi requested to remain.

The building is located in a defensible location, is out of the way without being inconveniently far from the missions office or the gates out of the village, and came already furnished. Since a lot of shinobi spend time training or out of the village and viewed one apartment much the same as any other because of their way of life; they figured it would be more of a hassle to arrange for different living quarters than to just remain where they were and deal with any minor flaws the minimalistic units had.

As a large amount of single shinobi began to occupy what became my building and what is basically its carbon copy, the identical set up resulting in the nickname they were now known by shinobi as - 'The Twins', businesses began to set up shop as well so they would be more convenient than another of the same kind on the other side of the village in what was the market district.

While I had thought it was interesting history at the time and had been far more interested in the damage rent would do to my meager income, it is relevant now for two reasons - the first being that my building is next to a weapons shop which boasted about creating their own exploding tags as well as the ability to customize the size, intensity, and the amount of time after being triggered before detonation.

The second reason, which is also why I froze in the middle of a busy street gaping without noticing or caring about the dirty looks given to me as civilians avoided my still figure, is the sign displayed in the window which advertised the aforementioned exploding tags.

The Art of Sealing. Hindsight almost always appears blindingly obvious but it honestly chafed me I didn't think of it first. Of course seals would be able to render me unable to see what they were guarding - more than once has it been said that sealing is as dangerous as the imagination and ability of the fuinjutsu user. Sealwork allowed people to do a great many things unable to be accomplished otherwise. It was the people's proficiency in Fuinjutsu that resulted in Uzushio's destruction, after all.

Despite my original plan to use the normal streets to travel to the house I basically grew up in, I didn't hesitate to jump onto the roof of the building I had moments previously fixed with an incredulous stare due to the tacky poster advertising customized exploding tags. I eagerly flew across the rooftops, feeling the same sort of satisfaction I did when I had successfully picked my first lock in the academy, incapable of containing my excitement at sharing what I hope is source of my blood limits inability to view Shikamaru's future.

"Ohaiyo!" I called out from the front door of what had always felt like home despite the apartment containing all of my stuff.

"Okaeri!" I heard two voices chime out from the sitting room in response. My lips quirked up into a smile at hearing the deep voice intermingled with the bell-like voice of Yami. Akio had turned down missions for a period of time after Akari and Rafu died during the Invasion of Sand and Sound but has been taking missions at a increasingly higher frequency. While incapable of performing seals himself, I'm sure Akio's years of experience as a ninja will be helpful. Without hesitation and almost on autopilot from of the years of repetition, I toed on the set of house slippers and placed my own sandals on the mat next to the door before venturing down the hallway.

"Hello, it's great to see you both." I said with a smile before making my way to the low table and sitting in the seiza position gracefully across from Yami and Akio.

"It's as though you grow more and more in height every time I see you." Yami said fondly as she held out a full cup of tea towards me once I was settled.

"It's been two days since you saw me." I replied, rolling my eyes at her exaggeration and accepting the proffered tea. "Thank you."

Yami hummed in lieu of verbalizing that your welcome and eyed me with a shrewd expression. Uncomfortable with the visual assessment, I began to fidget before stopping myself from broadcasting my discomfort.

Yami's lips pursed in blatant disapproval. I did not need to activate the Sakimonagan to see that a tongue lashing was in my near future delivered by the refined woman sitting across from me.

"One would think that someone who only recently became able for active duty after a medical leave of absence would take better care of himself." Yami scolded. I lowered my eyes in shame as I heard the barely restrained fear and concern underneath the scolding tone she is used to mask the terror of losing another child.

"Look at me." She snapped, my body automatically doing as she ordered before I could process it. The emotion in her eyes caused a chill to race up my spine and my heart to ache in sympathy. She look hunted. "Do you want to destroy my already shredded heart?"

"No, I just…" I immediately protested, hurt that she would even insinuate that I'm capable of intentionally causing her pain.

"I'm sorry."

Yami exhaled slowly and laid the palms of both hands, which had been previously wrapped around the tea sitting before her, down on the table. Silence pervaded the air for a long moment until Yami spoke again, her tone of voice more kind than it had been. "I know you don't mean to worry us. It's… well, you know."

"Now, tell us why you look like you've been in a fight with the Shinigami. Still having problems with those eyes of yours?" Akio asked

"That's actually why I came to see you two today." I responded, straightening my posture as I remembered my suspicion.

"You feel you know why you cannot receive a vision in regards to your lover?" Yami questioned

"Ka-Chan.." I groaned out of embarrassment, the telltale heat warming my face making me painfully aware of the vivid pink my cheeks were becoming.

"Yami, Stop teasing the boy." Akio told her with a straight face but a tone of voice which betrayed his amusement at my reaction.

"What? That's what they are!" Yami exclaimed as she threw her hands up in exasperation. When I noticed the mischievous look she adopted I knew I would have no desire to hear what came next but the realization dawned too late for me to cover my ears. "If they're anything like we used to be they 'love' each other wherever and whenever they can all around Konoha too! I remember when you had me pushed against that wall, Akio, one hand up my-"

"Kami!" I yelped, the flush on my cheeks spreading all over my face while I fought to think about anything but the picture she described. I shuddered and began to stand, shaking my head in an exaggerated display of both disgust and mortification. "I need Morino-San to torture that mental picture out of my head or Yamanaka-San to completely erase it. I'm heading to T&I."

The two alleged adults in the room burst into laughter after hearing my remark and a minute later Akio waved his hand in a gesture of me to return to my previous seat. "Oh never you mind, sit back down. She's only poking fun… and telling the truth."

The last words were said more softly than the rest and I watched as the couple who basically raised me as their own shared a look so sickeningly sweet it made my heart ache and my mind turn to Shikamaru. I shook my head after I quickly recovered from the small bout of melancholy and pointedly pressed on to the subject that had been temporarily abandoned.

"I believe it may be a seal of some kind preventing me from being able to get anything." I informed them seriously with my hands together in front of me and on the table.

Neither of them spoke for a minute, though the words had sobered them up instantaneously, and it was Akio who finally broke the silence. "A seal that prevents you from seeing into the future."

"Is it possible?" I inquired, tilting my head and waiting for him to finish considering the question.

"I believe so." Akio finally decided, the grave expression aimed in my direction not aiding to ease my trepidation in the slightest.

"What is it? Just tell me. I can take it."

"The problem with seals, and the same reason that so few master sealing or even bother learning anything about them at all, is that they are complex creations." Akio explained, his tone changing into what Akari, Rafu, and I used to fondly refer to as his "educating the next generation" voice. Chastising myself for the moment of inattention spent in reverie, I pushed the nostalgic memories aside in order to benefit from my father figures knowledge. "There are a couple of troubling thoughts that come to mind and need to be discussed."

"Why is Fuinjutsu that complex?" I wondered out loud, searching my mind for anything and everything I have ever been taught about or read about seals. "I know that the amount of focus required, especially for an amateur, is tremendous. I believe I once read a passage in a scroll I came across that Fuinjutsu requires not only that every line of ink be correct but that a significant part of the process is the requirement to imbue your intent and chakra into every stroke of the brush."

"Very good, Ren-kun, you're on the correct path."Akio praised, nodding his head in approval and making my chest warm from his compliment. "I've told you fuinjutsu is complicated but I haven't explained why - not only does it require what you mentioned a moment ago, it also has to be extraordinarily detailed. The best Fuinjutsu user will be precise, able to think quickly, adept at critical thinking as well as imaginative thinking, but most importantly - they will be capable of applying an enormous amount of attention to detail at a rapid pace."

"It's much like a formula for poison in the sense that there are recipes you can follow and once finished will be capable of reproducing the same effect as long as your intention was properly focused. Another similarity they share is that most users have their own recipe, one that is just different enough to be noticed or to emphasize a desired reaction. With Fuinjutsu, the most minuscule mistake could kill you or create a useless seal."

"Now, the troubling part, is that they have to be specific. For instance, one cannot just create a barrier seal and write barrier - you have to describe the barrier, what it should guard against, the density, the height, shape, and many other various details."

Akio ceased talking for a moment, looking at me expectantly - it shared a frightening resemblance to how my academy instructor used to stare at my class after explaining something boring and hoping to get a response in return. I went over the last few sentences he spoke in my head more carefully and analytically. He said this is the troubling part, or at least one of the troubling bits, and described how detailed and in depth the pieces of the seal have to be in order for it to function properly when placed together to create a usable, whole seal.

My eyes widened and the tea mug in my right hand shattered to pieces that cut my fingers as well as all over my palm. The stinging pain barely registered despite the rivulets of blood weeping from the various cuts I just received. The practically scalding tea currently covering my hand in liquid and turning the irritated skin a deep red color never crossed my mind. Yami's alarmed yell sounded far away as the flood of adrenaline began pouring into my system, filling my ears with the impenetrable sound of my heart pounding erratically in my chest. As though suddenly cursed with tunnel vision, the only thing I am able to see is Akio's face and the grim expression paired with a slow nod in order to confirm the truth to what I had not realized until this very moment is my greatest fear and an unexplored weakness.

"What is going on! Akio? Ren?" Yami yelled, the fear and confusion exuding from her working like a bucket of cold water as it brought me back to my senses and away from the debilitating fear that had gotten ahold of and essentially crippled me.

Yami's eyes, as she crouched next to me with a towel wrapped around my hand to stop the bleeding, were darting between Akio and I uneasily. Finally, Akio spoke up in a tone of voice tightly subdued with a forced sort of calm.

"Ren realized what it means if it is truly a seal circumventing his ability."

"What is it?" Yami asked, the trembling I only just noticed in her hands, from a fear she felt strongly enough that my arm shook along with her own. Slowly, in an effort not to frighten her anymore than she currently was, I covered the hand she was using to put pressure on the cuts.

With my own steady hands holding her own steady, the trembling turned into an occasional twitch of movement. Yami turned to fully face towards me after the silent show of support and blatantly written all over her face was the desire to ask a question I never wanted to have to verbalize into words; I am sure, once spoken aloud for another soul to hear, it would transform into a reality in which I am not completely confident in my ability to confront.

A notion so completely and utterly ridiculous, one borne out of a childish desire to run away from problems and pretend they are not real, used as a method of avoidance.

I am Ren - a genin of Konohagakure, member of Team Eleven, a comrade, a friend, a son, and a boyfriend. Steeling my resolve, I told Yami what had caused such a dramatic reaction.

"Someone knows exactly how my bloodline limit works, has worked up a way to test that the seal is working, and is using Shikamaru to do so." I explained, my stomach rolling in nerves and trepidation. "Someone highly resourceful thinks that I'm a potential threat and has a found a way around my best defense by completely blocking himself out with a seal."

Yami's eyes widened in shock and she followed up he explanation with another question."Why would they give one of the seals to Shikamaru- Kun though?"

"They're testing them to ensure they work." Akio answered before I could, his eyebrows drawn tight over his face in a clear expression of worry.

"When trying to work out who is responsible for something, use deductive reasoning and the process of elimination." I practically mumbled to myself without paying an iota of attention to Akio-san's question, the words which I spoke aloud moments ago occupying my focus- the words are a direct quote straight from Takeshi-sensei's mouth during one of his most memorable training sessions that covering the way to investigate something.

He once told us that if you are able to answer those three questions, you will be well on your way to solving the mystery presented to you. Now, applying that logic here, all I need to do is deduce who has the means, a motive, and the opportunity.

"One of the council members, though a clan head is unlikely due to the fact the seal is being tested on Shikamaru. No clan head would risk implicating their own clan by testing an unapproved prototype on the Nara heir - no, this person was likely to have no clan affiliations, which gave the flexibility to use who they wanted to use."

"Ren-kun."

"Truthfully, it doesn't have to be a council member but I am going to put two subcategories- one list of potential jonin and the second of potential political figures. This reeks of an attempt to secure or continue to deal in dirty politics." I spat out, abruptly beginning to pace as I spoke in order to let the motion stimulate my brain.

Despite being somewhat aware and fully comfortable with the presence of Yami and Akio standing in the room with me, I am talking to myself - which is a bad habit I have that began after I moved into my apartment and has become more frequent since Rafu and Akari were killed in action. It's hard to think with so much oppressive silence and needless to say going to a house with four people to an apartment without anyone except myself occupying the matchbox on a regular basis.

"Ren-kun!"Akio finally thundered irritatedly, having previously attempted to capture the young ninjas attention by steadily increasing the volume of his voice.

"Yes, Tou-chan?" I asked innocently, as though screaming is how everyone communicating with one another these days.

"I've been trying to tell you" Akio continued, lowering his voice to a more appropriate volume now that the boy he saw as a son's attention is unwavering. "That you should ask Kakashi Hatake his opinion on the sealing theory. While Kakashi is not even close to being a master, the amount of knowledge and understanding he has in the art of Fuinjutsu is quite rare. You should take advantage."

"Thanks Otou-chan, love you! Love you Ka-chan!" I shouted, calling out the words used to say goodbye over my shoulder, already sprinting across the roof of the building three down from their own seconds later. I knew exactly where I would be able to run into Kakashi-Sensei at this time of day.

A sharp left turn and ten minutes of fast travel later found me coming to an opening in the thicker part of the forest, completely devoid of any trees or animals lurking on the shadowy edges of the forest. The moment I had entered into visual range, I knew Kakashi is within olfactory range and most likely auditory as well - as one would expect with a Jounin that bore a reputation like Kakashi-Sensei, he gave away no visual or olfactory sign that he knew about being watched.

"It was not my idea to track you down and I'd like to make it known before we begin that I have a lot of time to spend chasing you and a lot of motivation." I told Kakashi-Sensei, who didn't have the grace to look mildly is not the first time I have had to chase Kakashi in order to force him to acknowledge me or to have a conversation; it was a recurring challenge that served to annoy me endlessly.

I activated my Sakimonagan, breath hitching in surprise as I saw Kakashi-sensei reaching for my arm in order to bring me along on a Shunshin rather than leave me in the clearing as he would have once. The surprise I felt after deactivating my eyes and already standing in a secluded alcove near to the mission desk did not take long at all to develop into a disgruntled glare, Kakashi-sensei patting me on the head affectionately with an eye smile that reeked of condescension.

"Now, cute little genin, wait for me around here and after the debrief is over maybe I'll let you get around to whatever it is you sought me out for to begin with, ne?" Kakashi-sensei told me, leaning down slightly to be more on eye level with me. "Oh, and Ren, If you're always looking into the future, you might forget to live in the present - it's a weakness of yours."

In order to impart both how serious I am taking the sealing arts and how concerned I am about the potential of a seal designed to prevent my sight on specific areas or people of interest, I gave him my complete attention - and something about the set of my jaw or the look in my eye must have betrayed my desire to listen in on the meeting because Kakashi-sensei informed me that if I attempted to listen in on a classified meeting, then there would be hell to pay; After directly being ordered to not listen into the meeting, I would not have dared to do so anyway, but the silver-haired nin wasted no time explaining why my chances of success were so low.

"Those traps are made for more experienced shinobi and even if you managed to pass the ones I set today, I will still be able to tell how far you made it and where in the room you were, so no snooping." Kakashi-sensei told me patronizingly and I hated my teeth subconsciously in retaliation to his body language.

* * *

I suppose an accurate word to describe the summation of my feelings would be an equally divided combination of anger, righteous indignation, and humbleness. I could tell Kakashi came back into the clearing and despite being unable to see any of the facial expression due to his mask, the amusement in the air and the fact that he keeps having to repeatedly muffle what sounds like incessant giggling. The whole left half of my shirt is gone, leaving it half hanging on and half hanging off, after Kakashi's trapmaking skills made themselves apparent. The flamethrower resulted in primarily cosmetic destruction, satisfyingly the damage caused by the veritable flame thrower will have Kakashi-sensei parting with a rather large amount of money.

No less than he deserves for trying to kill me, I sniffed irritably, glancing at him from the corner of my eye. I have yet to pass a mirror after attempting to burglarize THE Copy Ninjas residence and when I found myself to be severely lacking the ability to finesse into the apartment, the last few days has my temper on a short fuse and after becoming angry when his lock spit adhesive glitter onto my hand, covering the entire damn hand in vibrant purple glitter, I became temporarily unhinged and had my foot whipping through the air as hard as I could manage to in my state. See, the problem with that plan is the giant fucking flamethrower on the other side of the door. In the frame of the door itself are a couple of exit points that release oil - once covered in the oil, which I mostly dodged aside from the left part of my upper body, the canisters of oil will release in the direction of the door - coming into contact with a burning candle between the flight path of the oil. The overall effect is an amazingly terrifying trap resembling a very primitive flamethrower.

Needless to say, after he flamethrower quit trying to incinerate everything in a two hundred square foot radius and after liberal use of multiple fire extinguishers, I leaned into the apartment in order to close the door. I am still not exactly sure how I activated the trap but I found myself falling forward after my foot tripped over something.

Instinctively reaching out to catch myself, I watched in both muted fascination and horror as a strand of hair that fell from my head shredded by razor sharp wires. I let out a relieved huff of breath after I caught myself, thankful for my fast reflexes because the wires are almost entirely incapable of being seen with the naked eye.

It took the combined efforts of a chunin living next door and myself, as well as requiring I remain completely immobile for the amount of time (which had totaled up to 2 hours) needed to dismantle the death tra- I mean home security and defense initiative, as Kakashi cheerfully put it, having invited me to analyze him while he went about organizing a list of the various components necessary to have his normal amount of deadly,elaborate, and completely terrifying aspects to the 'security system'.

I did contribute as much as my current skill level allowed and the few that I am prohibited from both attempting to bypass or attempting to reconstruct a similar version of the Death Chair until I am some type of Jounin, either tokubetsu or full.

The most amusing event to occur happened during the massive undertaking Kakashi enlisted my assistance to handle. We began by setting all thirty traps up in order, none of which were armed to be lethal so we could tinker on them, and started examining each one individually to see if it could be improved or needed any maintenance.

First, to give as brief of an explanation as possible, the traps are designed to systematically go off in a specific order so that the maximum amount of agony is experienced by the intruder before guiding them to an intentional long, drawn out death - each individual trap had been carefully thought out in an effort to render them as unpredictable and unconventional as can be realistically attained while keeping the total amount of destructive potential each individual trap is capable of inflicting as high as possible.

The entire day after I informed Kakashi about the possible creation of an anti-Sakimonagan seal, and after he questioned me and forced me into writing down an accurate and detailed report of every single piece of information or discussion I have had that led me to my reasoning and unverifiable hypothesis - that an unknown, though possibly politically affiliated without having any close ties to one specific political group, has created a seal designed specifically to counteract the bloodline limit ability I possess (I refused to include the guess I had on how the seal is capable of preventing the use of my eyes in a written report while the possibility of a criminally affiliated politician in a position of influence remains.

Obviously, the unidentified male or female pulling the strings has some kind of information damaging enough to justify spending a large allocation of financial resources in order to prevent a genin from accidentally, maybe, stumbling on something. The effort required to carry out the mission preparation, particularly locating a Fuinjutsu master competent enough to design and produce the seal as a special commission, and then paying for however many time consuming seals he'd like to receive.

The amount of resources being utilized spoke of an enemy with either an excellently well-honed talent for foresight or an unstable individual suffering from debilitating levels of paranoia left untreated for years; the paranoia not being kept in check implies the subject may be prone to delusions of grandeur and prone to consistently making compromised decisions based on unsubstantiated information or feelings due to an irrevocably damaged psyche.

If I was forced to guess without any more additional information, I would say damage to his/her psyche stems from a subsequent lack of treatment or therapy after an extraordinarily traumatic experience - whatever events transpired during said trauma have in all likelihood impacted the subject immensely; one possible outcome being that the subject feels this event was a catalyst in their life (giving what is essentially a tough experience a much larger impact than is normal - high possibility that subject will become fixated on this moment and anything directly or indirectly involved).

If faced with the first type of enemy with a knack for predicting and anticipating exactly how others will act, Konoha could possibly be facing a civil war between two opposing, and so far unnamed, factions. If, however, it is the other initial and unfinished profile type that is discovered acting on their own behalf in addition to issuing orders that are not within his or her power to command in the first place without the express permission of the acting Hokage on a case by case basis.

In addition to the insubordination and obvious intentional abuse of power and privilege, which should result in the one responsible being stripped of all titles, ranks, favors and goodwill accumulated throughout his life including but not limited to: any rank, title, or inheritance rightfully claimed by birth, secured due to good fortune, or that have been presented to you for any and all services provided to serve Konoha and Fire Country. After distancing individual from any and all affiliations, punishment should be immediate execution for treason, misappropriation of Konoha assets, embezzlement, conspiracy, and any other charges possible.

These thoughts kept me company throughout the day and tortured me in the dark of the enemy is firmly obscured by shadows and will remain to be until they are brought into the light by one of us by keep an immense amount of pressure constantly applied. The only other event I can possibly fathom that would require the master pulling the puppet strings to reveal his identity is if, in an effort to secure any essential assets or to ensure the successful completion of a pivotal objective, the individual cannot be as efficient as needed while also maintaining such a strict behind-the-curtain persona - forcing him to take action, presumably in the form of a coup or takeover in order to openly control wherever his base of operations is set up.

All of that information I placed in the folder given to me by Kakashi-Sensei, who sealed it somewhere so quickly and made it impossible for me to know the specific location of the information. After we finished all of the paperwork, Kakashi having delivered the contents to Lady Tsunade personally with an uncharacteristic grim air radiating from him.

Instead of agonizing over unknowingly and accidentally omitting pivotal intelligence that had the potential to help or may be necessary to find the subject or find proof of a person operating within Konoha, Kakashi had me focus on redesigning traps and learning new skills. After spending a bountiful amount of free time perusing the schematics, I grew sick and tired of never seeing a name at the top - calling it the traps or security traps just sounds lame. The acute frustration I am feeling, mainly about my inability to currently do anything further for the investigation or the search party.

Which is exactly how The Fatal and Elaborate System of Traps (Codename: FEST) officially came into existence. One section had ninja wire sharpened and reinforced until the resulting wire is more than capable of slicing through a human neck as if it were made from butter; Considering how intimately familiar with the wire I almost became when I fell face first after being tripped by the raised up floorboard, which is unnoticeable until triggered to raise once the primitive flamethrower is out of fuel.

The following section has six different projectiles including shuriken, senbon, and kunai. Each type of projectile has two different launch angles and launch timing, so even a ninja ranked considerably higher than myself would have to pay attention while evading so many different objects from numerous angles in a cramped space - not to mention having to simultaneously be careful so as to avoid accidentally setting of any other traps.

Ten seconds following the last barrage of razor sharp objects in that section, the next phase will commence which I am proud to admit I modified and improved this particular surprise in the system with Kakashi's Indifferent attitude unable to hide the approval in his eyes after considering the effectiveness and increase in difficulty gained by the system as a whole. Previously, after 6 sets of projectiles, the target was bombarded with gas to inflame and aggravate the breathing access points on a body in addition to the severe, almost debilitating, pain that occurs if the gas is released near someone with any wounds. It makes a papercut feel akin to someone jamming a torture device over and over into a stab wound after periodically burning bits of skin on a hand. The gas doesn't just cause an intensification of the central nervous system's sensitivity levels. A rather ruthless chemical combination that absorbs into skin through pores and will cause an unbearable itch to compliment the sharp, burning pain and near suffocation already being experienced by whatever unfortunate soul is unlucky enough to be exposed to the painful concoction and live to experience the long lasting effects. A more merciful act by far would be granting the victim a quick death.

Everything is the same as Kakashi originally designed it to be aside from one section; I only put in a small addition, courtesy of the accumulated motivation that two entire days worth of boredom and no training cause me to act on or suffer a slow death caused by a degenerating brain disease - a disease specifically prone to develop in teenagers, Acute Boredom Induced Brain Deterioration is a rare sickness developed in the brain stem when an otherwise brilliant mind suffers from a sudden lack of interesting or useful stimuli in order to occupy the portion that would normally be used to worry about impossible situations.

Most often the anxiety and resulting deterioration is a direct result from inexhaustibly repeating the same fears, questions, and the same scenarios - this recurring tendency has so far been highly ineffective in producing a solution to either situations and additionally has been unable to recall any other information that may have been omitted from the file submitted to the higher ups and Lady Tsunade. All information gathered is being thoroughly investigated by fully grown adults that have the resources needed and all of whom are far better equipped to resolve both problems while ensuring a minimal amount of negative backlash becomes generated resulting from the chosen course of action the village leadership decided will be the most effective and beneficial to Konoha's interests.

I slowly pushed the air in my lungs out, releasing a weary sigh while massaging my temples using two fingers from each of my hands in a valiant effort to combat the amount of pain from the crippling migraine that has been punishing my body continually throughout the past two days.

Truthfully, I am aware that to relieve myself from the persistent throbbing to constantly hound my sleep deprived body. This morning is when any attempt I make to bully the lethargic excuse for a brain rotting inside my skull into an ineffective moment of thought; one that bears only the most pathetic resemblance to any sort of brainstorming session. After the Herculean effort required to form a proper sentence, I concede defeat to my body's biological need to sleep.

I forced myself to raise my head, which seems much heavier than normal and requires more power as well, I didn't resist my body's inclination to shut my eyes. Sleep has eluded me for the past week, ever since the discovery pertaining to my inability to see Shikamaru's future. I am not entirely which part of me is positive that Shikamaru is still alive but I feel as though he is with such a intense certainty that I have not experienced doubt for even a small fraction saying otherwise.

I can't recall the exact date when, for the first time, I experienced a future showing my possible death. I remember how I felt after screaming so hard that woke up myself - the shock, fear, anger, disbelief. After analyzing the scene over and over in my mind, unable to seek any further sleep with the moment I die playing like a sick, macabre reoccurring movie that I threw up moments later.

I began dating Shikamaru soon afterwards even though I knew my death would be brought about indirectly because of my relationship with the soft hearted genius. I certainly considered ending things and this way we both may have spouses and children… but every time I envisioned a family, my family, eating dinner… I saw Shikamaru, a little boy, and I all around a table. I can never picture another man at the table.

The process people go through in order to accept things that have impacted them in a significant way is a gradual one; Despite knowing it was a change slowly happening, It honestly felt as though I went from watching the end of everything I know and seeing myself being murdered every night to instead watching an older version of myself sacrifice himself without hesitation in order to protect someone he loved more than his own life. The look on my face when I'm hit, knowing it's fatal, is one filled with a love so pure and all encompassing for the man with my head in his lap.

There is not a single moment of fear or regret in my final moments, only a peaceful acceptance and a love too vast and limitless to fathom into words - to attempt to do so would only cheapen the bond between the two men and the unspoken assurance to one another that something this is as simple and inevitable like Death would not be capable of separating them for eternity.

It is reassuring to get these dreams and while not occurring EVERY night unfailingly, it has always occurred at least once every week since they the first one. Except this past week - I have yet to dream at all for the entire time and I thought maybe… well, the future is always changing so I am unsure what exactly I thought.

After having seen the vision so regularly and being so entranced by it despite my ability, as I proved mere moments ago, to recreate every moment of it word for word with help forming in the imagination department thanks to our highly active imagination - imagination having always been deemed essential, thus, deserving you to both continue nurturing as well as encouraging one another to keep your imagination engaged for your entire life by Yami and Akio.

I fell asleep before realizing I had even begun to drift, the pleasant and safe warmth distributed throughout my small body at present a reassuring piece of evidence, not counting my seemingly instinctual knowledge that he is alive, that Shikamaru is still alive. After sleeping undisturbed for the entire night uninterrupted, I felt more human and alive than I have in recent memory - I felt so reinvigorated and energized! After the bout of insomnia and the stress, I'm ready to catch back up and then possibly come up with ideas to acquire evidence pointing towards the identity of the Anti-Future Visions Seal.

I stood up and made my way over to the dresser with a bounce in my step, a slight smile tugging at the corners of my mouth at the thought of what catching up on sleep is capable of doing for your health in addition to being fundamentally necessary for a rounded base set of good habits to teach their son every now and then.

Toying around with the words, I hope, may one day be part of an entire song that I composed alone. After days of monotonous and awful mood swings, I felt so happy that I became distracted enough to do the ritual I always followed on auto pilot. It's the reason I was ill prepared to receive a vision - let alone one capable of easily taking the spot reserved for most vividly intense vision experienced in my life.

My eyes burst into a luminous color reminiscent of electricity and moments after I fell to my knees with my head turned up toward the ceiling with an expression that displayed terror and pain so obviously that no one spoke a word about it in the following weeks. A unanimous vote said they shinobi in question was displaying signs of extreme terror, collapsed onto her knees and her fingernails dug into the palm of her hand with enough force to draw blood.

* * *

The stark white, thin fabric commonly found among the linens at the hospital passed through my fingers and provided yet another uncomfortable reminder in regards to the temporary room I have been placed in after being admitted to the hospital earlier in the morning. A random thought concerning the ever present stiff-like quality present in every piece of the fabric cleaned within the medical facilities walls. My eyes followed the perfectly equidistant stitching performed along the edge of the starched sheet with an unnatural and entirely faked level of interest in order to prolong the inevitable questions and the unverbalized demand for answers to aforementioned questions with every minute detail.

"I'm truly sorry that I cannot delay asking these questions or allow more time to pass prior to receiving any details you can recall - unfortunately, the potential for information and the possibility that any information may be time sensitive means a high priority level. We may gain information, even indirect information to lead us something concrete, could result in enough to require an actionable response." Lady Tsunade said, her voice adopting a tone that came across as a perfect blend between being one that would broker no nonsense and be to the point in any questions with a matter of fact tone. In addition, she also retained a gentle quality to provide a comforting implied concern for my well being.

Even the words chosen and the method in which they were delivered seemed to be carefully constructed works of art; the difference being that instead of the type of brushstrokes or shade of paint an artist will use to attempt invoking a specific feeling or reaction m in any who admire the work. Yes, I am positive Lady Tsunade has been given some sort of formal diplomacy training.

The Hokage has an inflection common among diplomats - similar to how the skill and style difference is glaringly evident when comparing a master painter to an individual that has never painted before, the esteemed Godaime seemed in possess an impressive ability with words that alluded to a mastery in diplomacy. The chosen words used were masterfully subtle in their purpose - they effectively reinforce the idea in a leader predominantly motivated by her empathy. In an effort to come across as a benevolent and strong leader that harbors a deep affection and sense of responsibility for every single occupant.

By beginning with an inquiry to my personal health and apologizing for something that I am being ordered to do despite my reluctance to disclose any information, it almost appears that it is an unpleasant act that she cannot help but enforce due to pressure from a nameless entity - also providing an anonymous scapegoat for any resentment to be blamed for any imagined unfair treatment. Finally, indirectly appealing to the ingrained sense of duty and loyalty every shinobi is conditioned to have in order to receive my full cooperation voluntarily given to 'help the village'. Both the way she spoke is careful in measured without seeming unnatural as well as the subtlety applied emphasis on seemingly unimportant pieces erased any remaining doubt that she had some form of training.

"It did not feel similar to any others I've had in the past; the kind I usually get feel completely effortless - almost like rekindling a friendship with a person you know very well but fell out of touch with. I am never confident or sure what to expect since every vision is as different from one another as they are similar" I answered, the unscripted words falling out of my mouth effortlessly.. "Every single vision, regardless of content or level of intensity, has held one recurring trait throughout my entire life - it's difficult to put into words… It's like a feeling… or maybe a presence? One that is comfortingly familiar without bringing anyone or anything specific to mind."

"What did this one feel like to you?" Lady Tsunade asked, moving a little closer to the bed in a display of body language saying my answer is on she was interested in hearing.

"It felt… unnatural. Something inherently wrong that became twisted due to someone purposefully attempting to change the very nature of something… or someone." I informed her quietly, my voice dropping even lower as I spoke the last words.

"What did you see?" Tsunade asked imploringly, being careful not to demand a response or push me to give one - a technique usually used by interviewers when trying to get information from a victim rather than a suspect.

"Flashes, so quickly I didn't have time to make sense of most of it or to comprehend the picture." I finally said, struggling to remember the numerous glimpses I saw to give her something more than an "I don't know'. "I remember seeing an underground base of some sort. There were.. people, I guess, but something is wrong with them. It's like… something took away their humanity - as if they were husks that had been relieved of their souls. I remember seeing some kind of design, maybe a seal, and that's all I could make sense of aside from…"

"Aside from what?" Tsunade pressed patiently, maintaining eye contact as I searched her eyes for something I wasn't sure of while ignoring the ominous silence hanging heavily on the air.

"An emotion." I admitted with a slight grimace that interrupted my yawn. "Similar to desire but a desire tainted by anger and what seemed to be an almost desperate need for control and power. I don't believe they will rest until he has what he wants."

"What does he want?" She asked

"What's the position with the most power?"

Lady Tsunade's hands clenched and she glared at the floor, jaw tight and a determined expression across her face that made me feel sorry for the person who wanted to cross the Slug Sennin. Her voice turned to steel as she spoke the word out loud.

"Hokage."

* * *

A/N: Sorry it's been so long! I wrote a lot to apologize! Love you all and if you have a moment, check out this page for me. I have heard it is hard to find and was told the easiest way is to go to Go Fund Me and type in: 513F0co in the search box. You'll know it's the right one because it will read Liability.

** go fund me dot com / 513f0co**

Thank you so much to everyone who has helped me in this trying and difficult time, it is impossible to feel hopeless or frightened for long when faced with such an overwhelming amount of kind words, generous hearts, and encouraging support. I cannot express how touched I am by everything that has been done and said for me with such selfless sincerity. I am writing this so that you know how much of an impact you've made in my life and, though we may never meet one another face to face, I love you and thank you from the bottom of my heart - if there is anything I can do to even begin to repay you for the kindness shown to me, please reach out to me. If there is anyone hurting, scared, or in need of a friend; I will be there for you, to pass on the good will and kindness shown to me. I will be there if you'll allow me to be.

Love,

Rache

(As a side note: fakumadafaka, if you are reading this, I deleted your comment due to the derogatory content contained within it and I kindly ask anyone reading my story to respect one thing: I leave anyone free to comment whatever they like in order to encourage everybody's right to express their opinion. I ask that in return you refrain from utilizing any sort of derogatory or ugly language. If you find that there is something distasteful within my story, please articulate your opinion without resorting to discriminatory language or any language used with the intent to belittle, hurt, dehumanize, or objectify anyone of any gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, or any other classification used in order to further the segregation of Homo sapiens into various classifications. I appreciate your continued support and adherence to this request!)


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"AKARI! RAFU! NONONONO! PLEASE!" I screamed, my raw throat burning from the abuse. My eyes flew open, the unshed tears clouding my vision to the point that only a dim, blurry room revealed itself. I felt the surface I was laying on give a little as someone practically threw themself beside me right before wrapping me up in a firm hold and pulling me toward themself, the warm body instantly soothing a small portion of the fear pounding throughout my body.

"Ren, it's okay. I'm here." I heard, my breath catching in the middle of attempting to control the ragged inhales after recognizing the husky voice saturated in worry. Shikamaru continued speaking, a slieu of comforting words spoken by a shaky voice. Despite obviously feeling rattled by abrupt breakdown, I felt touched that Shikamaru is unwilling to be anything except a steady presence. "I'm here, petal, I'm here. Shhh, you're alright."

"Sh-Shika." I sobbed, my arms tightly wrapped around the Nara heir's waist, the tears falling rapidly from my eyes working to steadily soak his loose shirt. "What's happening to me?"

"I don't know but I'm right here. I'm right here." He murmured, gently stroking my loose hair. He maneuvered me up, turning me so I could lay on his chest instead of his stomach. Feeling my heavy, red rimmed eyes struggling to remain open after an indeterminable amount of time had passed, I finally allowed the sound of Shikamaru's steady heartbeat to lure me to sleep. The rhythmic beating combining with the familiar smell I associated as being distinctly Shikamaru acted faster than any sedative I have taken before. Right before I gave myself away to the oblivion of sleep, I felt a satisfied smile form due to the presence of the unwavering body molding comfortably to fit with my own.

* * *

"Up and AT EM BOYS!" A loud, smug voice shouted gleefully. I groaned out of annoyance after realizing I was being woken from what honest to Kami feels like the best sleep I've gotten in the past month. My reluctance to open my eyes evaporated as I not only heard an annoyed sounding grumble but also felt the vibration due to the proximity of the source that made the noise- or in other words, the noise would be hard to miss when it had originated from the comfortably warm surface that I am currently using as a pillow.

When the incident last night came rushing to mind is when I began forcing my heavy, sleep-laden eyes to open. Before My eyes became fully open, I braced myself for the possibility that I had only been dreaming about his presence last night so I wouldn't be as disappointed as I had been the first time it had happened. Instead of the disappointment that I had been expecting it is a jolt of happiness accompanied by a wide smile, one large enough to make a face feel like it could potentially split in half just from the force, appeared at the sight of Shikamaru's disgruntled expression - one I have only seen on his face when someone makes an attempts, and successfully manages, to forcefully rouse him.

I happily burrow my face back into Shikamaru's chest in a weak attempt at hiding the ridiculous smile before reaching out for the hand laying loosely on top of my stomach, intertwining our fingers and squeezing gently to reassure myself of his corporeality. A part of me, the piece that has been frantically off kilter while unable to see his future during the mission that lasted longer than expected, finally settled down now that I can be visually assured of his safety.

The absence left behind in lieu of the consistent dread regarding Shikamaru's safety during the mission has left me feeling far more centered. It should be disquieting, how much one person affects my entire life, but I file it away into the 'things to consider later or never' part of my mind in favor of enjoying the moment instead.

"Missed you." I mumble into his chest, my stomach feeling like a puddle of some kind of warm, melted, gooey substance as Shikamaru lightly scratches my back and chuckling before returning the sentiment.

"I missed you too." Shikamaru said, tapping on my head until I raise it and look up at him. In a voice that was teasing in nature but soberingly serious at the same time, he asked, "Why are you always in the Hospital when I get back?"

"So that you can find me easier, of course." I attempted to joke, unsurprised when the attempt fell flat between us. Just as Shikamaru opened his mouth to say more, the sound of someone pointedly clearing their throat interrupted him before he is able to make a sound. Our attention became drawn to the forgotten presence that had originally woken us to begin with.

"I have a question." Lady Tsunade drawled amusedly "Why is it every time I see you two together it's in a compromising position?"

"Believe me, Lady Tsunade." I sighed, trying to ignore the dark flush attempting to take over. "I've asked myself the same question every time it's happened."

"Let me know if you figure it out." The Godaime quipped, smirking at us both for a second before leveling Shikamaru with a look that, to be quite frank, could scare a biju into submission. Maybe. Either way, It is not a look I want directed at me anytime soon - especially considering the Hokage's famously short fuse. "Nara, if you'd kindly hop out of my patients bed."

Shikamaru scrambles out of the bed instantly and I stifle the automatic protest the action causes before it can begin to form. Judging by the sadistic glint in her eyes and the well-hidden amusement present in her voice, Tsunade most likely guessed that I had thought about protesting. What followed is a medical exam, and I am so tired of having them performed. There have been a countless amount of tests and examinations that I've undergone in the last few weeks - despite the high rate of exposure, my tolerance to them has decreased rather than increased. They were quintessentially, to quote Shikamaru, "Troublesome".

"Alright, brat, looks like you're good to go." Tsunade finally announced thirty minutes later, ignoring my cheerful exclamation, "Make sure to take it easy. I have a mission I want you to be a part of in a couple days."

"A mission?" I asked, perking up and turning serious instantly at the thought. It had been awhile since I had taken one so my interest is naturally piqued.

"Report to my office in two days." Tsunade said over her shoulder without elaboration as she walked out of the room.

"Do you really think you should be going on a mission so soon?" Shikamaru asked, brows furrowed in concern.

"Absolutely!" I replied cheerfully, hopping out of the bed and walking over to the wardrobe.

"Really." Shikamaru deadpanned, giving me a look.

"Oh quit worrying, Shika, you'll get lines. " I said flippantly as I began to pull out the clothes Yami must have brought by. Making a mental note to stop by and thank her, I began shedding my clothes. "The best medic known to ninja, who also happens to be our Kage, is confident. It would be hard to convince me she wasn't absolutely certain I am in good enough shape to undertake it. Say what you will in regards to her anger but I doubt anyone who knows her would say she doesn't care about the people she's responsible for as more than assets. In fact, I think she may even have a soft spot for me deep down."

"Woah!" Shikamaru exclaimed in a higher voice than normal and, after turning around to see why, I saw a red faced Nara holding a hand over his eyes.

"Seriously, Shikamaru? I said she had a soft spot for me, not that we were in an affair." I drawled, rolling my eyes at the dramatic reaction and taking off my pants. When he didn't respond I let out an exasperated sound before vocalizing why I thought he is being a bit ridiculous. "You've seen other men at the onsen, we all have the same bits and pieces."

"It's different." Shikamaru protested, maintaining his position.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm not some lady and we don't have to 'maintain our modesty' because we aren't in an arranged marriage subject to public opinion." I said, my chest warm at the show of chivalry despite my contradictory words. He really is too good for me. I yanked my pants up and threw on the green shirt, adjusting the clothes until they fit comfortably.

Shikamaru let out a long suffering sigh and mumbled under his breath, more than likely not intending for me to hear the words spoken. "You mean YOU aren't subject to public opinion."

I honestly don't know if I wish I hadn't or am glad I did but either way, the fact of the matter is that I DID hear him and I can't pretend otherwise. Feigning ignorance would just mean I'll constantly be fretting about it, drawing incorrect conclusions, and just being an all over mess. It has taken me this long to become a little comfortable with the idea of dating an heir to an influential clan and it's the single biggest source of my insecurity concerning our relationship, regardless of how well I hide it.

Of course I have thought about what it entails to be with him but I don't try to get ahead of myself, which my mind makes easy when it's something threatening to destroy my sanity via over-analyzation. I know that if we have been dating for a long while that the assumption would be for me to join the clan. I know that there are a lot of things regarding the Nara, as well as clans in general, that I am going to have to learn but Shikamaru will find as familiar as breathing - he has been groomed to inherit the leadership of his clan, the duty to prepare him for his inheritance being something I highly doubt even Shikaku would find easy to shrug off. It might be plausible in another universe, one which Yoshino wouldn't be the type of person to ensure he, for his own good, accomplishes what he needs to accomplish. Actually, no - Yoshino would have to not exist in that universe for that to happen.

My mind and it's digression aside, I have thought about what it means to be dating someone who is heir to a prominent clan. The problem is that while I know in the sense that I comprehend he will one day be an important person with a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. It is because while I _know_ about the future position he will take over, knowing and being capable of understanding something are two entirely different things. I don't know anything about the politics of clans, I have never been taught why a portion of earnings is paid to the clan, no one has ever explained the customs observed when a member (let alone the SOLE HEIR) is dating a non-clan individual. My point being that what it means to have a clan, never mind leading one, is not something I have any way of understanding.

People say it's like having a big family but that's basically the same as comparing a D rank mission to an S ranked one. It's how you'd explain it to a child so they have a way of understanding the gist without requiring an in depth explanation. After a couple of months of being with Shikamaru, I did attempt to learn what I could through the resources available to me - which, in a nutshell, is practically nothing. My 'research' efforts cumulated to include an explanation, which had been as massive in its length as it was painstakingly intricate, detailing the various reason clans were formed with only vague information hinting at the inner workings of one. Oh, I also unearthed the proper etiquette one is supposed to observe while attending any clan hosted function - it may or may not have been accurate depending on whether or not the etiquette has changed in the past fifty years.

The truth is that getting more than vague and brief information about a shinobi clan from anywhere except the clan itself is a practically impossible feat. While it seems downright idiotic to keep my curiosity at bay and refrain from asking Shikamaru about it, my childhood has left an ingrained aversion to discussing anything clan related - especially to a member of a clan. When you aren't affiliated with a clan, any attempts made to learn about a clan can be received poorly by the clan being inquired about. The reaction to an attempt, or one that is taken as one anyway, can be considered as minor as a faux pas, similar to how someone would respond if someone forgot to use the proper honorific when speaking with a higher ranking person. On the other side of the scale, it can be treated as major of a matter as attempting to steal a kekkei genke would.

The clans in Konoha carry a lot of poltical weight and also result with a large amount of military power since most are shinobi. If someone like me were to offend a member of a clan who was well liked or held in high regard, I would be transferred to the genin corps with a unspecific reason for the command. All of the shinobi not affiliated with any of the clans are warned by parents or friends to stay out of clan politics if you'd like to live happily in Konoha. Be polite and treat them as any comrade is to be treated. If they are antagonistic and you can remain quiet until able to withdraw from the company, then do that instead of responding or involving a commanding officer.

When that is how you handled anything relating to clans, and developed the tendency to avoid thinking about any specific clan or the general subject of clans for long. Not to say that I have a problem with the structure of our village or the privilege afforded to the prominent clans - it is a well deserved status earned by the amount of members that make up the ranks and the other income source they provide to maintain a stable economy. The Akimichi own a great deal of the restaurants, the Nara provide research facilities for medical techniques and other innovations, the Yamanaka known for the flower shop and the greenhouses they maintain in addition to providing mental health services and training others to do the same.

The amount of revenue, number of job positions, and an expertise formed by the passing down of information and constant drive for improvement - it all adds up to a significant amount of credit for Konoha's stability being directly attributed to the existence and machinations of the clans. Without them there would not be such steady levels in both the housing and hiring markets. No, I understand as much as a young, non clan shinobi can be expected to understand. They are an amazing part of our village and don't take nearly as much advantage of the deference given to them as they could. Which is why I go out of my way to avoid making waves and try not to think about the potential repercussions that dating Shikamaru may result with. If I did consider it and managed to come out on the other side considered mentally fit, then I may wonder at some point if his status played a part in my actions. Making sure I stay far enough away that the clan politics couldn't be poked with a twenty foot pole.

Of course it is because Shikamaru sounded like I am a burden for him to be dating is what makes me toss the promise to myself without much deliberation. This caring about someone so much is way more work than people, namely Akari's parents, made it seem growing up. Mentally I make a note to bring it up casually later on when in a private setting.

"I'm decent now."

Shikamaru uncovered his name eyes, the blush just now beginning to recede from his tanned complexion. Smiling fondly, I walked up to him and swiftly kissed him on the cheek. "I tolerate you."

"I tolerate you." He replied, lips quirking up as he looked down at me. My smile turned into a frown as I realized that he had grown while on his mission - only an inch or so but still enough for me to notice the difference in our height because my eyes were normally level with his nose but now I am closer to being eye level with his lips than his nose.

"You grew." I said dumbly, making him laugh a little.

"Don't pout." Shikamaru chuckled, squeezing my shoulder and smirking. "I'll let you sit on my shoulders if you need to grab anything high up."

"I take it back - you're an asshole." I huffed without any heat, suppressing a smile as I wrapped my hand around his wrist, turned towards the door, and tugged him into the hallway. "Come on, I'm starving and this hospital has food that tastes like shit."

I finished my sentence right after exiting the room I had been confined to for the past four days. My words, said louder than intended, received a scowl from a nurse who was walking past. Once the stern looking woman was out of earshot, Shikamaru let out the laugh he had been holding back but it quickly turned into a quiet groan after my elbow made contact with his ribs. Ignoring the scowl I could feel being aimed at the back of my head, I made my way down the opposite hall the nurse, the one who'd heard my criticism of the food, had gone moments ago. It may have been the long way to get to the front doors, though Shikamaru wisely didn't comment on that fact, and if I was avoiding the nurse I'd pissed off - well, that is my business.

With a grin on my face, I raised my arms once we stepped out of the hospital, breathing in the antiseptic-free air and relishing it. The hospital smell is what drove me insane - I have no idea how those with a heightened sense of smell can hear to come within a mile of the building. Although, now that I am thinking about it, that may very well be the reason for Kakashi-san's constant escape attempts whenever he is forced to stay at the Hospital.

"Do you have any plans?" Shikamaru drawled, easily keeping pace as I began to walk towards the marketplace.

I thought about it for a moment before shrugging my shoulders in a lackadaisical manner eerily similar to how Shikamaru does. I need to make sure I don't adopt any other bad habits from spending so much time with him. "I am going to the Marketplace to get some decent food and then I'm not sure what else to do."

"Pack for a mission?" Shikamaru suggested, his eyes lazily scanning the surrounding area.

"I'll do that tomorrow." I told him, shaking my head and jostling the loose hair I am sporting. I glared at some of the brown locks obscuring my vision, moving the irritating piece of hair out of my line of sight.

"Here." Shikamaru sighed as he stopped me and, after placing his hands on my shoulder, spun me so that my back was facing him. A soft smile played at my lips as I felt him efficiently and gently gather my hair into the short ponytail the way it is normally styled.

"Thank you." I told him, turning around to peck his lips with my own.

"PDA? Wow, Shikamaru, that's not something I saw coming from you." A voice to our left commented, one we both recognized.

"Jealous, Ino?" Shikamaru asked as we both turned to face the direction her voice came from. Standing next to Ino is Chouji, Asuma-Sensei standing behind his two students with a steady smile on his face.

"Please." Ino dismisses, waving a hand to empathize her pointed disinterest.

"How are you Ino, Chouji, Asuma-sensei?" I asked, nodding politely at each one of them in turn and smiling at Chouji - I am particularly fond of the Akimichi-heir ever since the Sasuke retrieval mission, despite the fact that the mission ended up being a failure.

"Great, Ren!" Chouji replied after swallowing the mouthful of chips previously occupying his mouth. "I'm glad to see you're well enough to leave the hospital! I was worried when I heard you had been admitted and was going to swing around after lunch."

"Thanks, Chouji, It feels excellent to be in fresh air again. I'm honored you considered coming to check on me, though." I replied sincerely, touched by his thoughtfulness.

"Why were you in the Hospital?" Asuma asked curiously

I felt some of the blood drain from my face as I thought about the vision that I saw - even such a small glimpse, which revealed next to nothing, had resulted in chakra exhaustion severe enough to be nearly lethal. Despite the danger, I am curious to see if I could see anything else that may help Tsunade-sama in her search for his identity. If I did not know about the potential mission coming up in two days, I might head back to my apartment in order to force a vision in a private place. As it stands, I have a far larger amount of questions than I do answers and I am trying not to linger on the terrifying emotions I absorbed throughout the duration of the vision.

"Ren?" Shikamaru called bringing his fingers to brush against the inside of my wrist, unknowingly providing a source to anchor myself to. With only a small amount of difficulty, I forced my mind to focus on the present rather than the future and push any thoughts relating to my dojutsu far away my thoughts.

"Sorry about that, I was lost in thought for a moment there. To answer your question, Asuma-Sensei, my stay in hell came as a direct result of training harder than I should and a foolish overestimation in regards to the amount of chakra I have access to." I explained in a roundabout way, ignoring Shikamaru's eyes boring into the side of my face. I know that if I were to turn and observe Shikamaru's expression, the evaluation would show me piercing eyes that seem to glitter with intelligence. The aforementioned expression is one of the rare ones that Shikamaru and his father, Shikaku-sama, happen to share - from the uncanny way their eyes appear to take every inch of you apart, examine the pieces, before promptly putting you together again. This level of concentration is one they both usually reserve for either noticeably difficult Shogi matches or missions with unexpected or unanticipated factors.

The slight tension in the air, brought on by my lack of discipline controlling myself and inability to utilize false emotions as a mask, increased as the other members of Team Ten realized the out of character reaction Shikamaru is showing.

"Alright, fine." I sigh, exasperation coating my words, allowing my annoyance to become a distraction from the suspiciously out of character behavior of Shikamaru. Looking over to meet his eyes resignedly caused me to inhale sharply before I began to cough - my body attempting to naturally force the dry, parched interior that currently makes up my throat to cooperate and utilize the cough so whatever is hurting the sensitive body part can be expelled.

"I am glad we ran into you and that you have a couple days free, Rin-kun." Asuma-Sensei declares without any preamble before continuing to speak. "I have pretty exciting news - due to Shikamaru's promotion and the requirement that three genin are needed to enter a team for the Chūnin Exams, the Hokage is placing Ren on a temporary assignment as a loan to Team Ten."

I smirked slightly, having seen the moment (purely by accident) before Shikamaru left the village - despite the advanced warning, I smiled warmly at Chouji and even gave Ino the same goodwill as I aimed a smile her direction.

"Awesome! Shika's boyfriend is way more fun than any other reject that might have decreased our potential." Ino cheered, a delighted giggle escaping the blonde Yamanaka-heir at the sour look Shikamaru sent her way.

"I've been advised against using chakra until the mission; it should be a okay to spar though." I informed him

"Taijutsu works." Asuma decided, nodding his head in approval and already appearing to compile their skill lists before beginning to plan tentative formations they can use as a team. "If you have a few moments to spare and you are alright with doing so, Ren-kun, would you mind writing down the skill set you have? It is so I may get a feel for your abilities and match them with Ino and Chouji's own techniques."

"I suppose." Ren-kun agrees tentatively after a brief, silent exchange with Shikamaru. "I doubt I have to even say this but it would be silly not to do so - I don't want a page detailing all of my abilities to leave my possesion for even a moment during it's brief existence. You'll have to memorize it."

"Of course." Asuma agreed easily, obviously having expected the request or assuming it as a given to any ninja that isn't a complete moron.

"I have to either eat something as soon as physically possible or I might shooting at random targets for fun." I announced, receiving a look of approval from Chouji, trying to mask the shiver of unease as playful dramatics. The only person who did not say anything on the matter but the weight of his sharp eyes adding to my overall unsettled feeling - the thought of our conversation did make me nervous and I had a lot of trepidation concerning what will be discussed but this… this is something else.

"We should meet up for dinner in a couple of hours." Shikamaru suggested "We can eat a quick snack, finish shopping, and then meet up with the others."

Everyone agreed to that plan, so Shikamaru and I headed towards a dango stand to grab the bite of food before continuing to get the things I might need for the mission coming up.

* * *

"Hey, Ren?" Chouji questioned, my head turning to look at the Akimichi heir sitting beside me only to face openly worried eyes focused on me.

"Heh, sorry about that." I apologized, moving a hand from the table so I could pinch my leg if I became distracted again. "What's up, Chouji?"

"My Mom and I put something together for you." Chouji explained, bashfully glancing in my direction before giving a gift to Shikamaru. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion when Shikamaru held the ornate wrapping paper in my direction right after being handed the box himself.

Refusing to touch whatever that odd behavior had been with a ten foot pole, I unwrapped the present carefully enough to preserve the gold and green paper. My mouth became a tight line as I clamped down on my emotions as much as I could, my stare focused entirely on the present sitting beautifully inside a green velvet lined box.

"I know it can't ever replace what happened to your old one but.." Chouji stammered endearingly, looking terror stricken by whatever he was seeing on my face. "Well, it isn't supposed to replace it. I just thought it is the least I could do for coming back for me."

I couldn't do anything except keep staring down at the wonderfully wrapped present, feeling more than a few emotions attempting to fight out the dominant spot to represent the situation. I absentmindedly made note of the silence at our table, a large contrast when compared to the rest of the lively restaurant surrounding us, and I still had no idea what on earth to say.

Bewildered, my eyes connected with the dark set steadily watching me from across the table. Shikamaru's mouth twitching into what is not quite a smirk, it is softer than a smirk but not quite a smile, brought me out of the surprised stupor induced by Chouji's kind gesture.

"If it is inappropriate or you don't like it, I really don't want you to feel like you have to keep it." Chouji nervously expressed, the uncharacteristic rambling making me let out a sharp bark of laughter that startled Team Ten's members.

"He loves it, Chouji." Shikamaru explained, the relief that statement brought to the generally jovial Akimichi making me aware of how tense my reaction had made him. "He's just processing."

Shifting my foot under the table to press against Shikamaru's own as a way to silently thank him, I hurried to verbalize my gratitude and avoid making the exchange any more uncomfortable than I have already. "Absolutely, I have- This is so amazing and beautiful and I cannot even begin to come up with a way to thank you for this."

Chouji visibly brightened at the praise, flushing pleasantly out of embarrassment but sporting a satisfied expression at the response his gift had received. Attention shifting back to the hearty amount of food still occupying our table's surface, Chouji enthusiastically beginning to fill his plate as he spoke.

"I honestly don't want you to feel like you have to do anything beyond thanking me. I already told you that it's because of what you did on the retrieval mission, I think you have more than repaid me for what that bow cost." Chouji insistently told me, hesitating as his eyes flickered in Shikamaru's direction before he continued. "If coming back to me isn't enough of a reason to accept a friend's gift, maybe telling you this will help - I know he'll hate me for talking about it but I really think you're good for Shikamaru."

Chouji ignored both the mortified choking sound that came out from his best friend and the giggle, that preceded into a coo, originating from Ino's seat with an ease that spoke of practice in doing so. "Everyone calls him lazy, and even though he can be unmotivated, it's something he indulges more infrequently than people think. Shikamaru is a simple guy and also someone who is extremely complicated at the same time - he has layers hidden behind indolence. I am so glad that he found someone that understands him, that challenges him in different ways, and who is willing to be a such a steadfast source of support.

My undivided attention, which is a rarity to be given considering the amount of effort required to focus for long periods of time, has been on the words Chouji spoke. At the last sentence I found myself needing to lower my eyes, using the existence of the elegant weapon as an excuse to hide the water gathering in my eyes. With a quick, surreptitious motion to reassure myself that my eyes are dry, I looked up to watch Chouji's remaining thoughts.

"I know Ino, Asuma, and I haven't spent a lot of time getting to know you - its that we are acquaintances because of Shikamaru but that is what I want to change." Chouji explained, smiling hopefully around the words saturated in emotion. "I hope that I'm not crossing any lines when I say this but… I know no one could ever replace Akari and Rafu. No one can do that because you guys were so close - I am not asking that you do anything you aren't prepared to try, so don't feel like I wanted to ask while you weren't expecting it. There isn't a proper way to grieve and I hope one day that you're ready to let people other than Shikamaru get close to you."

"I hope you don't think that I am subtlety saying this is as a way to thank me for the bow. When I get a chance to see you with Shikamaru, you look close to bursting with happiness and anyone around has to pay attention to you two because it's magnetic." Chouji described, lips forming into a small smile at my surprise from hearing that people watch us. "I could tell you never noticed and I thought about it afterwards a great deal since the first. Then, a few weeks after, I saw you without Shikamaru around."

Here, Chouji's confident and easy-going way of articulating himself noticeably wavered. Hypnotized with his words, I nodded with an encouraging smile as silent prompting to continue. Despite the reassurance, Chouji's troubled look remained, my gut beginning to churn unpleasantly during the silence left behind as Chouji paused to gather his thoughts.

"I saw you by yourself one time - I think you may have been going to the store? At first your back had been to me, so I started to call your name but you were already starting to turn before I had a chance." Carefully choosing his word and ignoring the sudden burning intensity coming from Shikamaru, Chouji became quiet again as he debated whether to keep talking.

I squeezed his shoulder comfortingly, guessing that he needed encouragement. "You don't have to finish but you don't have to quit either - I want to hear anything you think important enough to put into words. We can stay here all night."

Chouji's reluctance ebbed a little after I spoke but still seemed unsure of something. The glance following my words, while being done subtlety enough, was obvious concerning the source of his discomfort. Patting his shoulder reassuringly, which only made him look confused - Well, he looked confused until a yelp and a loud bang reverberated inside the restaurant. As is expected after a disturbance loud enough for a whole dining area to hear, all of the occupants cohabitating the food establishment with Team Ten and myself began looking in our direction for a minute filled with awkward eye contact between strangers.

"I am going to kill you." Shikamaru threatened lowly, the focus and certainty contained within his words made goosebumps rise on my arms. Asuma flinched a little, giving a deeply sympathetic grimace to me.

I pointedly didn't look anywhere except Chouji, expectantly waiting for him to continue what he began.

"What a drag." Shikamaru huffed, pretending to be irritated but I could see he wasn't really mad. "Sorry, Chouji, go ahead, you aren't being troublesome."

"I-I had no idea what to do when I saw you." Chouji confesses, the guilt on his face making me commit to cheering him up later. "You didn't look like yourself - your hair didn't have feathers, your skin had a wax-like appearance, their were bags and dark circles under bloodshot eyes. It.. well, it scared me."

I winced, closing my eyes for a minute steel myself for the conversation to come, and taking a deep breath of air before slowly exhaling. The temptation to look into the future is one I push out of mind despite the desire to do so. I am not overly fond of being taken by surprise - small ones, such as the bow, are great. It's the unsettling moments that I detest and Chouji mentioning the poor state I had been in while Shikamaru wasn't in the village is most definitely making me feel unsettled.

While it is annoying that I had spent what had been a large, and is now instead a fruitless, amount of effort avoiding people that may talk with Shikamaru about me - the thing that always made me hate being blindsided is the reminder that I am not infallible. Ruefully, I have to admit Chouji is frequently doing things I don't see coming.

It's easy, with the gift I have, to trick yourself into feeling, if not all-knowing, then at least incapable of being taken by surprise. It's the same reason I am so anxious about person who found a way to avoid being Seen by me. I can easily admit that it is unhealthy to be so confident - especially for myself, I who know better than any the fluidity of the future, to have that mindset. Just because I can admit that it's not an outlook kept, for long or at all, by people desiring a long life doesn't mean I have to like it.

Having come to terms with the likelihood of a draining conversation, one that is both long and highly emotional, I took in the dispositions of everyone. Starting with Ino, mainly because it means Shikamaru is last, lets me take in the surprise and curiosity warring between one another for the right to be predominantly expressed. Asuma is next to impossible to read, the only thing I can discern is that he is more tense than a few moments ago. Chouji is confused and uncertain, his head swiveling between Shikamaru and myself as though trying to learn the rules of an unrecognizable game by watching two people play.

Reluctantly looking at Shikamaru, my brows furrowing on their own at the unexpected sight of the top of his bowed head. Maybe it's not just Chouji who keeps me on my toes, is the absent minded thought that comes to mind while trying to understand what Shikamaru is feeling and the thought process.

"Oh geez, this is just painful-" I heard Ino say with a large amount of disdain that almost completely covers the affection laced in her words.

"Ino." Asuma warningly, obviously having some insight regarding what she intended to do.

"Asuma-sensei, are you serious?" Ino retorts without pause, continuing to do as she wants - which, if speaking honestly, is nothing new in the way she operates.

"It's not your plac-" Asuma began to chide her, disapproval tainting the usually warm timber of his voice into a bittersweet sound instead of a comforting one.

"Oh, come on!" Ino exclaimed, getting both Shikamaru's attention as well as my own.

Now that I am more aware, I realize that Chouji had also stepped away from the table and now stands slightly behind Ino on one side where Asuma stood as well. Panic begins to burst out of me in devastating waves as soon as my mind starts to come up with awful ways for this to end - Shikamaru and I alone in the public restaurant having our first fight with the other guests as the unwilling audience; Shikamaru and I under one of Ino's mind jutsu until we are dead in the physical world; Ino handcuffing me to Shikamaru and- Actually, that one sounds not so bad… I wonder if Ino has ha- right, focus on not being dumped because you're a nutcase.

"Look, I'm all for people coming to their own conclusions, but they are both so intelligent that they are stupid." Ino argues, gesturing between he and I while one hand rests on a cocked hip.

"Hey!" I half-heartedly protested, not having the energy for an argument but unwilling to let someone insult Shikamaru like that. "He's not stupid - it's that he's so aggressively intelligent that it takes like five minutes to go through about a million more scenarios than yours or my own could in a lifetime."

"Asuma-Sensei. Really?" Ino continues to persuade, my comment only earning an eye roll and derisive snort. Which, okay, the comeback is a little lame but at least worthy of acknowledgement!

Asuma sighs in a way that just yells that he expects this to come back to bite his ass when it should get Ino's instead and the reason it's going to end that way is because it already has happened to him more than a few times. Obviously not the type to second guess himself, Asuma crosses his arms with one another and stays quiet as Ino's attention latches on to Shikamaru and I with a startling amount of precision.

"Alright, look." Ino begins in a soft tone that has me warily on guard instantly. I hadn't been aware Ino's voice could sound anything other than demanding, giggly, angry, or expressing the unholy sound made by a jutsu Shikamaru and Chouji call Sasujutsu no Fangirl.

I've only seen it once and have no desire for a repeated viewing after watching the terror that appeared on the target; an ebony haired boy sporting a unique hairstyle that Shikamaru had been created with a Duck's rear end in mind for the shape. I admit that the end result had a unique effect - it also did look exactly like a duck's butt.

Coming back to the present allowed me to hear Ino's explanation about why Team Ten is leaving sans one member at dinner alone with that members next potential kunai throwing target. Apparently wanting to assure that she has our undivided attention and finding Shikamaru's persistent staring contest with the floor as proof that he is not providing the correct amount of attention, Ino's hand became a blur of speed as it flashed towards the Nara's head.

Shikamaru looked up after feeling her hand touch his hair, eyes narrowed out of annoyance, and looking unfairly adorable the now loose hair coming to his shoulders. Ino unrepentantly smiles, one full of teeth and a general predatory feeling, and pointedly fidgets with the stolen hair tie in her hand.

"Alright, look." Ino said once again, ditching the uncharacteristic tone and sticking with the one she usually has - demanding. "You're both, like I said, gifted with a large amount of intelligence. That is one of the reasons I think you guys work well together."

"Ino, stop being troublesome." Shikamaru told her, hand held out expectantly. Ino considers him for a moment before a devilish expression appeared on her face.

"I'll give it to Ren and wait while he puts it up." Ino compromised, holding it out towards me and waiting for Shikamaru to agree. Having been expecting to hear a protest or refusal, his instant agreement understandably threw me for a loop.

"Really?" I blurted, flushing when I got his attention.

"Of course." Shikamaru softly replies, a frown present I wish I had the courage to kiss away.

Unable to kiss him, the pleasant feeling that I experience from the way he relaxed while I carded my fingers in his hair in a soothing, rhythmic manner. A smile came easily to me when Shikamaru shivered after having felt when my hand accidentally brushed the tip of his ear.

"I'm going to talk while you put his hair up while flirting, so pay attention." Ino ordered, the corners of her mouth twitching as a show of the effort being put into suppressing a smile. "So - like I said, you're both smart enough to be considered a genius in your own way - and that is how I know you need me to interfere because you don't even know what you are doing wrong. It's your status as 'genius' where the trouble begins."

One long winded lecture from Ino later, during which both Shikamaru and I resembled tomatoes and gaping fish at various moments, saw Shikamaru with his hair once again out of his face and myself sitting in the seat I had originally occupied - the biggest change being my new attempts to hide the transparently dopey, smug look on my face from being directed at anyone in my line of sight.

"Stop that." Shikamaru sighed, his head thumping on the table as it hit.

"What?" I asked mischievously "I thought you didn't want me to stop? In fact… I'm pretty sure you moaned for me not to stop."

During Ino's talk with us, I continued to play with Shikamaru's hair and eventually ended up massaging his scalp. When Ino was finished, I pulled away from Shikamaru's head so that I could shake Asuma-sensei's hand. Shikamaru had _moaned_ my name before realizing what he had done and wanting to die from embarrassment.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru surmised, shaking his head as the ten thousand watt smile once again took over half of the archer's face. I couldn't help it - my boyfriend wanted me, moaned my name in public, and he is awesome.

"Troublesome." I echoed in agreement, laughing a little when Shikamaru forced a ridiculously over the top smile.

"Would you like to come over for some tea?" I asked, enjoying the lovely weather Konoha could boast about that we were confronted by after passing through the doors of the restaurant.

"I would hate to spend a lifetime calculating the way every possible response will determine your feelings for me but I heard I could end up as a 'spiky haired grumpy geezer' with only my 'cracked from overuse shogi board' as company" Shikamaru replies, his tone as dry as Suna's climate.

I laughed at the reference of Ino's earlier one woman intervention - which had contained a whole host of colorful language that included the words Shikamaru used as a quote. "I'd like that, actually - that way I'll know someone since I 'live in the future so consistently that I don't properly experience the present'."

"Oh, right, I forgot." Shikamaru countered playfully, the smirk that followed making my heart speed up in response. "Do I look good, wizened and married to my Shogi board?"

"Unfairly so." I informed him, chuckling at the mental image the words invoke. "I have a thing for older men, you know - it's why I have a huge crush on the most attractive Shogi master in the elemental nations."

"Is that so?" Shikamaru asked rhetorically in a husky voice that shouldn't be allowed to use in public. "I knew you liked me."

"Huh?" I let out, looking as confused as possible at the implication before correcting him. "Oh - no! I tolerate you, true, but my crush isn't on you."

"Is that a fact?" Shikamaru questioned as we continued walking down a road located only a block from my apartment.

"I wouldn't lie to you!" I assured him, dramatically gasping and facing toward him by walking backwards. "This won't affect our friendship, will it?"

"What are you talking about?" Shikamaru asked, the confusion about our conversation now entirely genuine.

"Oh come on, Shikamaru! " I exclaimed with a roll of my eyes. "The most attractive Shogi master in the world?"

Realization sparked in his eyes before turning into horror, making him look a little sick. "Oh god, never say it. No."

"Alright, Alright." I agreed placatingly, pushing down the mischievous side of myself that couldn't resist the opening. "I agree - Nara-sama sounds too formal for what I want to do. I'll have to get used to calling him Shikaku."

"You're done for." Shikamaru promised

"If you can catch me." I countered, darting out of the way as he attempted to trap me with his shadow. I could see my apartment building from the street we were on, so I bolted in the direction it was, cackling like a maniac while doing so.

Shikamaru didn't disappoint, moving faster than I thought he would and stay on my heels consistently. I haven't felt as alive as I do right now since before the Chunin exams; Shikamaru and I weave in and out of the crowd of people, earning a few chastising shouts when a close call happens with a civilian. I am almost at the door to my building when I notice the large, long dresser that two men are struggling to fit through the doorway for a neighbor I recognize.

"Evening, Temuchi-san!" I called out, running full speed at the oblivious movers.

"Oh, what a surprise, nice weather we have today, isn't that right, Ren-kun?" Temuchi replies, waving me forward and warning the men helping with her furniture. "Steady now, you two, don't drop it from surprise."

When I got close enough, I agilely flip over the closest movers head, landing on the heavy dresser and taking a few steps forward to keep my balance while also maintaining the momentum. The workers yell and allow the dresser to shift due to the unexpected increase of weight; Applying chakra to my feet solves the problem easily before I jump towards the wall of the building rather than through the door.

Standing horizontally on the sturdy outside wall, I looked down to watch Shikamaru approaching the dresser. His face turning from one of concentration to surprise makes me notice old Temuchi-san bent over at the waist to pick something off of the ground. I stifle my laugh as he tries to stop in his tracks and, realizing it as the only way to avoid colliding with her, throws himself to the ground unceremoniously.

"Man, what a drag."

"Oh, dear, shinobi-san? What are you doing on the ground?" I hear both Shikamaru's and Temuchi-san's voices, the latter of the pair sounding way too innocent to be convincing, float up to me. "You're getting dirt all over that fine flak jacket. Would you like a hand getting to your feet?"

"No, no that's okay, I'm fine." I hear Shikamaru reply, my shoulders shaking as I tried to not bring attention to myself. There's a covering over the entrance that allows me to sit and listen without being in sight of anyone on the street.

"I'd imagine so. If all it took to take a Konoha Chunin out is these old bones then I'd be worried about our future." Temeuchu said dismissively "Oh, tell Ren-kun he can thank me for getting in your way by taking my grandson for a couple hours next week."

Imagining the incredulous expression on Shikamaru's face while being sassed by an old woman with oversized glasses made me lose it; I fell back onto the covering with my head thrown back and the proof of my amusement spilling out in the evening.

Shikamaru appeared in the space right in front of where I am sitting. All that it took to shatter my attempt at reigning in my laughter is Shikamaru's sour look. Closing my eyes to wipe any evidence of shed tears from laughing so extensively. My chuckles died in my throat as I stopped being able to move.

When I was around nine, living with Akari while we attended the Academy together, I had woken up one night after a nightmare and I remember Yami bursting into the room with a kunai held awkwardly in her hand. My screams had woken her up and I was still extremely scared because it wasn't the nightmare that had me screaming - it was the fact that, for a few seconds, I couldn't move a muscle once I had woken up. One large hot chocolate and lesson on sleep paralysis later, followed up by a plan to get several psychology books on the subject the next day, and I was going back to bed.

Sleep paralysis is when your body is unable to move after waking up; some people say that it happens so that your body doesn't move in case your sleeping at a large height so that you don't fall from a tree while asleep. It can be pretty terrifying to experience and it is exactly the same feeling as being trapped in the Nara Clan's Shadow Possession jutsu. I scowled up at Shikamaru as smirked down at me.

"Why'd you stop laughing, petal?" Shikamaru asked mockingly, bringing his hand up to put his fingers to his mouth and stretching it into a demented looking smile. Having no choice but to copy him, looking down at me with his fingers making his mouth form a ridiculous shape, I couldn't help but to laugh even more. Shikamaru sat on my stomach with an exaggerated grunt of effort, the extra weight making me instantly release the air I had managed to inhale while laughing.

"There's his laugh!" Shikamaru spoke lowly with a feral sort of smile that looked out of place on the normally impassive face.

I didn't notice when he released his shadow, I idly thought, neither of us breaking eye contact. For all that I felt able to move, he might as well have not used his shadow - his eyes could pin me down just as effectively as his jutsu. He leaned forward and I closed my eyes as he did, sighing happily right before our lips connected and I began to lose my breath for a altogether different reason.

This kiss is a lot different than all of our past kisses have been - less soft, lazy exploration and more fiery passion. Don't get me wrong - we had been passionate before but it felt different. Normally, Shikamaru is like boiling water; He starts out slow and gradually becomes more hot until suddenly he's boiling. Right now he is like a wildfire out to incinerate anything that he can and I am a bunch of wood soaked in oil about to catch flame.

Shikamaru pulled back to where he hovered slightly above me, his bruised and swollen lips matching my own in a way that is positively sinful. Leaning down to my ear, his teeth grazing the lobe, and whispered softly "Ren.."

"Hm?" I hummed, tilting up my hips so he'd rest more comfortably.

"We have to get up."

"Shikamaru." I groaned as he rolled off of me, still with that damned smirk on his face. Scowling because I know that he was just paying me back for laughing at his embarrassment earlier, I turned on my heel and applied chakra to my feet so I could walk up the building to my window.

"Nice view." He commented, making me regret not letting him go first so that I could stare at his butt while we climbed. Mentally telling myself to do exactly that the next time, I began working on the traps on my window so we didn't set any off going into the apartment. I activated my Sakimonagan more out of habit, one still engrained in me from Takeshi-sensei's crazy training exercises, than any suspicion. I tensed my arm muscles as soon as the vision began and turned to face Shikamaru when it is over and using Konoha signs with my hand.

' _One intruder - strong, identity unknown, unaware of our presence.'_ My hands flashed through the signs easily, my brief worry that Shikamaru doesn't have as much experience using them unnecessary because he understood instantly.

' _Engage?'_ He signed, apparently ready to follow my lead despite his Chunin status.

Thinking of the pros and cons with both choices left me dizzy. Regardless, a decision needs to be made before it's made for us and we lose the advantage of surprise. I took a deep breath and raised my hand to sign the answer, hoping it is the right one.

' _We should-_

 _TBC…._

 **A/N: Hello! This came sooner than expected and I wrote quite a bit…hope you all enjoyed another long chapter! Thank you so much to those who chose to read and act on the page I started, it's very amazing of you. If anyone is interested in knowing what I'm talking about:**

 **Go/Fund/Me is the website and you can just search for: 513f0co**

 **Thank you for the continued support and feedback! Next chapter we will be seeing a lot more of Ino and Chouji, the introduction of a new character, and Ren gets a mission!**

 **Until next time!**

 **** READ BELOW IF YOU LIVE IN USA ****

 **On a far more sombre and serious note, I would like to say that my thoughts are with those in Florida during this unimaginably difficult time. To any readers in the United States, especially the younger generation, I hope you are watching the news and I hope you understand what needs to happen. In our History books it speaks about amazing people who went to great lengths to enact change; they made sure their voices were heard even who no one wanted to listen.**

 **No longer can we sit idly by and allow our fate to be decided by the uncaring leaders who have gathered a horde of sheep by use of their silver tongues; No longer can we stand idly by while the people entrusted to serve and represent us are selling their service to the highest bidder and yet relying on our inaction to remain in gilded towers built by the taxes they collect.**

 **In Washington D.C. , March 24, 2018 there will be the #MarchForLives and I hope to see you there next to me as a last line of defense for the next elementary school, middle school, high school, college; we are the last hope they have, that us students have, against a gun wielding mass murderer aiming for our backs. Don't wait calmly for the next tragedy, be the change in history to ensure the safety of your children, your siblings, your friends.**


End file.
